BR 1700 .HB3T:8^5 v.l
Hook, Walter Farquhar, 1798
1875.
An ecclesiastical biograph3i
NOTICE to Purchasers of the Work, in Parts and
single Volumes.
• DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.
The Title, Dedication and Preface given herewith, (dated
May 15th, 1852,) are to be placed at the commence-
ment of Vol. I., and the Binder is requested to
cancel the Dedication and the Prefaces and Tables
which have already appeared in that and the rest of
the Volumes.
The "Table" to be placed at the End of Vol. VIII.
AN
ECCLESIASTICAL BIOGRAPHY,
CONTAINING THE
ILibes of ^MCient ^at^ers anK Plotrern MUmn,
INTERSPERSED WITH NOTICES OF
HERETICS AND SCHISMATICS,
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN EVERY AGK
BY jf
WALTER FAEQUHAR HOOK, D.D.
VICAR OP LEEDS.
VOL. VIII.
LONDON :
F. AND J. RIVINGTON;
PARKER, OXFORD ; J. AND J. DEIGHTON, CAMBRIDGE
T. HARRISON, LEEDS.
1852.
T. HARRISON, PRINTER, BRIC4aATi;, LIEDiS.
ECCLESIASTICAL BIOGRAPHY,
CONTAINING THE
l^tbes of ^nctent J^iatjers anir l^otKmt Htbtnes,
INTEESPERSED WITH NOTICES OF
HERETICS AND SCHISMATICS
A BRIEF HISTORY OB' THE CHURCH IN EVERY AGE
WALTER FAEQUHAE HOOK, D.B,
TICAR OF LEEDS.
Vol. I.
LONDON :
F. AND J . RIVINGTON ;
PARKER, OXFORD ; J. AND J. DEIGHTON, CAMBRIDGE
T. HARRISON, LEEDS.
LEEDS :
T. HAREISON, PRINTER,
BRIGGATE.
TO SIK WILLIAM PAGE WOOD, M.P.
My DEAR Friend,
Having brought to a conclusion The Ecclesiastical
Biography, in the compilation of which I have found,
for several years, a pleasing occupation for my few
leisure hours, I dedico.te these Volumes to you. From
our boyhood we have been accustomed to take sweet
counsel together in all that relates to religious prin-
ciple and sentiment ; you have walked with me in the
House of God as my Friend ; you have stood true to
the Church of England through evil report and good
report ; and you have been charitably opposed to
religious extremes whether on the side of Romanism
or on the side of Puritanism ; treading ever in that
via media in which we are instructed that the Truth
must always be found. To such a one it is a
pleasure to be able to say that, at the termination of
this Work, I find myself more than ever confirmed
A3
DEDICATION.
in those Principles which we thought out together
in early life, and long before the controversies arose
which now unfortunately disturb the Church; and,
with an increased feeling of deep gratitude to the
merciful Providence which, amidst the excitements
of the Keformation, over-ruled the passions of our
ancestors and directed their minds, while removing
the corruptions of Medievalism and the various
errors which grew up in the dark ages, to "stand
in the ways and see and ask for the old paths," so
that we, their descendants, find rest to our souls in
walking in that good way, — the straight and narrow
path, — which they marked out for us ; and possess a
Church, both Catholic and Protestant, which, not-
withstanding many defects in the administration of
it, is the glory of our native land, the terror of the
Papist, the monitor of the Puritan, and the bulwark
of the truth as it is in Jesus.
Let me add that it is impossible to approach
Ecclesiastical History or Biography without being
impressed with the fact, that the holiest of men,
whether Fathers, Eeformers, or Modern Divines were
not only fallible but sinful men ; and never let us
forget that Scriptural truth so firmly held in tlie
DEDICATION. V.
Primitive Church, obscured in the Medieval Church,
and re-asserted at the Keformation, but repudiated
by the Tridentines, that we must rely for justification
not on our own righteousness, for sin cleaves to
our holiest things, — but on the alone merits and
righteousness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
the Head of the Church, and the King of Saints.
I am, my dear Friend,
Your's most truly,
W. F. HOOK.
LEEDS VICARAGE,
15th May, 1852.
PREFACE.
The following compilation is one of very humble
pretensions on the part of the author, although he
may be permitted to hope that its usefulness will
be considerable to those for whose service it was
composed.
It was commenced in 1844, and has been con-
tinued in monthly parts till its completion in 1852.
It was designed for those among the author's
parishioners, who, engaged in commercial pursuits,
and without much time for study, take an interest
in Ecclesiastical affairs, and desire to become ac-
quainted with the History of the Church and her
divines. If it shall be found useful by masters of
National Schools and their pupil teachers, or even
by those of the clergy who, labouring in remote
parishes, have no extensive library at hand, the
author will be more than repaid for the trouble
he has taken and the labour he has expended upon
the Work.
Although the form is biographical, yet the object
is historical. The reader must not expect to find
Vlll. PREFACE.
in the articles of a Dictionary necessarily brief,
the anecdotes which render Biography one of the
most interesting branches of study ; the object of
a Biographical narrative devoted to one subject is
to throw light upon character ; whereas, a Bio-
graphical dictionary can only be expected to state
the circumstances under which a distinguished cha-
racter has been placed.
The Biographies in these volumes have been
written on the following plan : All points of minor
interest or importance, such as those which relate
to a person's family, have been either omitted or
slightly noticed : for these, and for all minuter facts,
the reader must have recourse to those works, which
are devoted exclusively to the history of the person
whose life can, in this place, be only briefly noticed,
and to which reference is made at the foot of each
article.
There have been in most men's lives one or
two important events to which a peculiar interest
is attached; and, by omitting points of minor
importance, an opportunity has been afforded of
dwelling upon these at considerable length. His-
torical events of Ecclesiastical interest have been
narrated with some minuteness of detail, when
the subject of a Biography has been instrumental
in their accomplishment; when, on the contrary,
he has been chiefly distinguished by his literary
labours, the chief dates have been given, which
are followed by extracts from his works.
PREFACE.
On doubtful points, relating either to dates, or to
other matters of detail, the author has adopted the
conclusion which he thinks most probable, without
entering into a discussion of the reasons by which he
has been influenced in his decision ; to have done
this would have been to occupy more space than
could, in such a work as this, be allotted to one
subject.
The authorities on which each Biography of im-
portance is composed, are given at the end of the
article : the very words of a biographer or historian
have been adopted, when the fact he relates is briefly
or happily expressed.
Besides the authorities quoted at the end of each
article, use has been made of Moreri, Bayle, and
Chalmers, the Biographia Britannica, the Biographie
Universelle, and other similar works.
The author does not make the slightest preten-
sions to impartiality; and he never gives credit to
the sincerity of an author who professes to be
impartial. The compiler of these Biographies has
seen every event with the eye of one nurtured in the
Church of England, and, he hopes, thoroughly im-
bued with her spirit and principles. At the same
time he trusts that he has done justice to every one,
whether Papist or Puritan, when sincerity, even in
error, and real piety have been displayed. The
author believes that he proves his real love of fair
dealing by making this admission; as the reader, now
knowing the bias of the author's mind, will be
X. PREFACE.
prepared to make due allowance for those prejudices,
the existence of which, the author does not attempt
to conceal.
The names of divines who have flourished in the
present century are not included in these volumes ;
a rule which it was found expedient to adopt after
the publication of the first parts of the work.
The reader is indebted to Sir William Page Wood,
M.P., late solicitor-general to her Majesty, for the
Life of Bishop Berkeley ; to the Rev. G. A. Poole,
for the Lives of B^de, Cyprian and Wiclifi'; to the
Rev. Dr. Maitland, for the Life of Foxe, the Mar-
tyrologist ; and to the Rev. G. Wyatt, for the Life of
Heylin.
At the end of the work a chronological arrange-
ment is given of the chief characters in each century,
for the use of those who desire to employ these
volumes as an Ecclesiastical History.
ECCLESIASTICAL BIOGEAPHY.
PEARCE, ZACHARY.
Of this learned and amiable man, we have an auto-
biography, but it contains little more than an account
of his publications, and of the manner in which high
preferments in the Church came to him without his
seeking them. He was born in 1690, in Holborn,
where his father was a distiller. He received his primary
education at a school at Ealing, from whence he was re-
moved to Westminster, and from Westminster he was
elected to Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1716, he
published an edition of Cicero de Oratore, with notes
and emendations, which he dedicated to Chief Justice
Parker.
When Parker became lord-chancellor, he appointed
Pearce to be his domestic chaplain, and by his lord-
ship's influence with Dr. Bentley, Pearce had been pre-
viously elected a fellow of his college. He was ordained
deacon in 1717, and priest in 1718. In 1719, he was
presented to the living of Stapleton Abbots, in Essex,
to which was added the next year, the Rectory of St.
Bartholomew, by the Royal Exchange, London, and he
was, not long after, appointed chaplain in ordinary to
his majesty. In 17*23, he was presented to St. Mar-
tin's-in-the-Fields, and received a Lambeth degree of
D.D. In 17^24, he published his edition of Longinus
on the Sublime, with a new Latin version and notes.
VOL. VIII. B
2 PEARCE.
In 1739, he was appointed Dean of Winchester, and in
1744, he was prolocutor of the House of Convocation.
In 1748, he was consecrated Bishop of Bangor, and in
1756, was translated to the See of Rochester, to which,
the Deanery of Westminster was annexed.
What follows is given in his own words : — " In the
year 1763, the Bishop of Rochester being then seventy-
three years old, and finding himself less fit for the
business of his station, as bishop and dean, informed
his friend Lord Bath of his intention to resign both,
and live in a retired manner upon his own private for-
tune. And after much discourse upon that subject, at
different times, he prevailed upon his lordship at last
to acquaint his majesty with his intention, and to
desire, in the bishop's name, the honour of a private
audience from his majesty for that purpose. Lord Bath
did so, and his majesty named a day and hour, when
the bishop went and was admitted alone into his closet.
He there made known his request to his majesty, and
acquainted him with the grounds of it, telling him, that
he had no motive for resigning his bishopric and deanery
from dislikes which he had to any thing in the Church
or State ; that being of the age before mentioned he
found the business belonging to those two stations
too much for him, and that he was afraid, that it would
still grow much more so, as he advanced in years ; that
he was desirous to retire for the opportunity of spend-
iiog more time in his devotions and studies, and that
he was in the same way of thinking with a general
officer of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, who, when
he desired a dismission from that monarch's ser\dce,
and the emperor asking the reason of it, answered,
' Sir, every wise man would, at the latter end of life,
wish to have ain interval between the fatigues of busi-
ness and eternity. ' The bishop then shewed him, in
a written piaper, instances of its having been done at
several times ; and concluded with telling his majesty
PEARCE. S
that he did not expect or desire an immediate answet
to his request ; but rather that his majesty would first
consult some proper persons among his servants about
the propriety and legality of it. This the king consented
to do, and told the bishop, that he would send for
him again, when he was come to a determination.
" About two months afterwards he sent for the bishop
and told him, that he had consulted about it with two
of his lawyers; that one of them, Lord Mansfield, saw
no objection to the resignation of the bishopric and
deanery ; but that the other said, he was doubtful about
the practicability of resigning a bishopric ; but that
however the same law7er. Lord Northington, soon after-
wards had told him, that upon further considering
the matter, he thought the request might be complied
with. ' Am I then. Sir,' said the bishop, ' to suppose
that I have your majesty's consent ?' ' Yes,' said the
king. 'May I then, Sir,' said the bishop, 'have the
honour of kissing your hand as a token of your con-
sent ?' Upon that the king held out his hand, and
the bishop kissed it.
" So far all went agreeably to the Bishop's inclination.
Consent was given, and in such a manner as is seldom
recalled ; it being, as Lord -Bath expressed it, a sort
of engagement.
" But unfortunately for the bishop. Lord Bath, as soon
as he heard of the king's consent being given, requested
him to give the bishopric and deanery, which were
to be resigned, to Dr. Newton, then Bishop of Bristol.
This alarmed the ministry, who thought, as other
ministers had done before them, that no dignities in
the Church should be obtained from the crown ; but
through their hands. They therefore resolved to oppose
the resignation, as the shortest way of keeping the
bishopric from being disposed of otherwise than they
liked : and the lawyer, who had been doubtful, and who
soon after had been clear, was employed to inform his
4 PEARCE.
majesty that he was then again douhtful, and thai the
bishops generally disliked the design. His majesty
upon this sent again, but at some distance of time, to
the Bishop of Rochester, and at a third audience in
his closet told him, that he must think no more about
resigning the bishopric ; but that he would have all the
merit of having done it. The bishop replied, ' Sir, I
am all duty and submission,' and then withdrew."
The affair of the resignation was again mooted, — " In
the year 1768, the Bishop of Rochester, having first
obtained his majesty's consent, resigned his Deanery of
Westminster upon Midsummer-day, which he had held
for twelve years, and wtiich was nearly double in point
of income to his bishopric, which he was obliged to re-
tain. As dean of that Church, he had installed twelve
knights of the Bath in 1761 : he had the honour of
assisting in the ceremonies of crowning his present
majesty, and the melancholy office of performing the
funeral service over King George the Second, and six
others of the royal family. He had always given more
attention to the interests of that society, where he was
the dean, than to his own ; and when he quitted it,
which was without any conditions attending it, he was
succeeded in the deanery, by Dr. Thomas, who had
been for many years his sub-dean there, and whom
he favoured no farther towards his getting it, than by
acquainting him some months before with his intention
of resigning it."
He died at Little Ealing, in 1774. In addition to the
works already mentioned. Bishop Pearce published : —
An Account of Trinity-College, Cambridge, 1720, 8vo;
Epistolae duae ad celeberrimum doctissimumque virum,
F. V. Professorem Amstelodamemsem scriptae; quarum
in altera agitur de editione Novi Testamenti a clarissimo
Bentleio suscepta, &c, 1721, 8vo ; A Letter to the Clergy
of the Church of England, on occasion of the Bishop of
Rochester's commitment to the Tower, 1722, 8vo; Th©
PEARSON. 5
Miracles of Jesus vindicated, in 4 parts, 1727, and 1728,
8vo ; in answer to some of the principal parts of Mr.
Woolston's Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour,
&c. ; Two Letters, in controversy with Dr. Middleton, on
the subject of his attack upon Dr. Waterland, 1730, and
1731, 8vo ; Two Letters to the Rev. Dr. Waterland, upon
the Eucharist ; Nine occasional Sermons ; A Discourse
against Self-murder ; and a Concio ad Clerum. The hu-
morous pieces sent by the author to the Guardian, and
Spectator, are No. 121 in the former work, and No. 572
in vol. viii of the latter. To the same volume he com-
municated the Essay on the Eloquence of the Pulpit, in
No. G33. By his will he bequeathed his library to the
Dean and Chapter of Westminster, excepting such books
as they already possessed ; which books, together with
his manuscripts, he gave to his chaplain, the Rev. John
Derb3^ To that gentleman was bequeathed the care of
publishing the author's great work, the result of many
years studious application. It made its appearance in
the year 1777, under the title of " A Commentary, with
Notes, on the Four Evangelists, and the Acts of the
Apostles ; together with a new translation of St. Paul's
first Epistle to the Corinthians, with a Paraphrase and
Notes. " &c., in 2 vols. 4to. To the Commentary, &c.
are added some of the author's earlier theological pieces.
Mr. Derby has also given to the public, from the author's
manuscripts, " Sermons on several Subjects," 1778, in
4 vols. 8vo. — Life i^'^fi^^f-l to Commentary, and Auto-
biography,
PEAESON, JOHN.
This great divine was born at Great Snoring, of which
place his father was rector, on the 28th of February,
1612-13. In 1623, he went to Eton, where he con-
tinued till 1631. He was then admitted, on the 10th
B 3
6 PEARSON.
of June, at Queen's College, Cambridge ; but within
a year, in April, 1632, he was elected scholar of King's,
of which he became fellow, in 1634. He proceeded
B.A. in 1635, and M.A. in 1639, in which year he
entered into holy orders.
There are many stories of him in this college,
says Cole, who was himself a fellow of King's ; one
of which is, that some one of his acquaintance, seeing
him still at Eton a long while after he had left it,
spoke to him in this manner, "So, John! what here
still? To my knowledge you have been the best
scholar in the school these ten years." Certain it is,
that such was his propensity to books and knowledge
while a school-boy, that all the money he could get
went for the first, and all the time out of school to
the improvement of the last: nay, he hardly allowed
himself time for natural rest: for when the prepositor
at ten o'clock at night, saw that all the candles,
according to rule, were put out in the long chamber
or dormitory, he would contrive to light up his within
an hour or two after, when all the boys were asleep ;
and by this means, I have heard it affirmed that
before he left Eton to come here, he had read most
of the Greek and Latin fathers of the Church.
It is not,, perhaps, very probable, that a boy at
school should have done quite so much as is here
affirmed : but it is easily supposed that the vigor-
ous and deep mind of Pearson grew early accustomed
to lore beyond the ordinary study of school-boys.
And the perfect training of his memory in the writings
of the fathers, guiding him in his Exposition of the
Creed, and other works, not only to apposite quotations
on every doctrinal point, but perhaps to the most
apposite which his authors contain, is in itself an
evidence of the zeal his youth had shewn in acquiring
that perfect skill. His grateful remembrance of Eton
is expressed in a passage of the Vindiciaelgnatianae,
PEARSON. r
with something of the tone of a man who is conscious
that he had not wasted the years of boyhood. Sir
Henry Savile, whom he mentions in the same sen-
tence, was dead before he went to school ; but Savile 's
Chrysostom was perhaps accessible ; and there was a
link in after-years to connect him with Savile's me-
mory, when he became acquainted with the memorable
John Hales.
Our famous Dr. Pearson, says Allen, was a
yery hard student at college ; and finding that the
fireside diverted the intention of his thoughts, and
dulled his spirits, he avoided coming near it as much
as possible, contented to sit close to his books, with a
blanket thrown over his shoulder. This is very
characteristic : the discipline of a cold room to quicken
the attention is still not unknown to hardy students ;
though the modern luxuries of stoves and warm air
have somewhat rebated the keen edge of such literary
enterprise.
On the death of his father, in 1639, Pearson in-
herited certain lands, mentioned in his will, situated at
Snoring and Downham ; and the income derived from
this source may have preserved him, during the troubled
period now impending, from those extreme privations
suffered by many of the loyal clergy. About the same
time, he was collated by Dr. John Davenant, Bishop
of Salisbury, to the Prebend of Netherhaven, in that
cathedral; a preferment which, no doubt, he owed to
that prelate's regard for his father; Davenant having
been with him a fellow of Queen's, over which college
he presided as master before his elevation to the See of
Salisbury. Within a few months after he had obtained
this preferment, he resigned his fellowship, but con-
tinued to reside at King's, as a fellow-commoner.
In June, 1640, he was appointed chaplain to Lord
Keeper Finch. He was about the same time presented
to the hving of Thorington, in Suffolk, but not, as Arch-
8 PEARSON.
deacon Churton shews, by Lord Keeper Finch, but pro-
bably by Mr. Henry Coke, son of the great lawyer, Sir
Edward Coke.
In the troublous times which now came on, Pearson
took his side manfully and devotedly as a royalist. He
preached strongly on the subject at Cambridge, and we
find him, in 1645, acting as chaplain to the forces under
the command of Lord Goring, at Exeter, After the dis-
persion of this last hope, he appears to have resigned his
living and to have taken up his abode in London, where
he is said for a time to have been chaplain to Sir Piobert
Coke, and, subsequently to George, Lord Berkeley.
Pearson's first controversial work was a notice of a
book called Exomologesis, or a faithful narration of his
conversion, written by Hugh Paulin de Cressy, an
apostate from the Church of England, and a proselyte
of the Church of Rome. Pearson attacks him in a
short argumentative preface which he prefixed to Lord
Falkland's Discourse on the Infallibility of the Church
of Rome : in which he takes notice of some singular
admissions of Cressy 's on the subject of this infalli-
bility, made in sec. ii., c. 21. of his Exomologesis.
Cressy replied to him in a second edition of his book,
printed at Paris, 1653, by an appendix of great length,
in which he professes to clear " the misconstructions"
of J. P., — a term often employed by a controversialist,
when he finds he has allowed his opponent too much
advantage by his former statements. And it appears
from his own confessions in this Appendix, that his
book had met with some severe censure on this ground
from his new friends abroad. The point of infallibility
is indeed one that is maintained with great latitude,
and in many discordant ways, by the advocates of the
Church of Rome ; as is admitted by Cressy in his
reply, and was afterwards forcibly urged by Charles
Leslie, and allowed by one who undertook to answer
him with more learning than logic.
PEARSON. 9
In 1649, he published an answer to a minor as-
sailant of Catholic practice from among the sectaries,
in a short tract entitled " Christ's Birth not Mistimed";
in refutation of an attempt which had just been made
to throw discredit on the calculation by which the
Church keeps the day of our Lord's Nativity on the
25th of December. The argument of the opponent
was founded on the courses of the Jewish priests with
reference to St. Luke, and, as Hammond says of it,
"was evidently demonstrated to be a mere deceit" by
Pearson, from the testimony of Josephus and other
Jewish writers.
The next memorable circumstance in Pearson's life is
the engagement which he made with the parishioners
of St. Clement's, Eastcheap, to undertake the office
of preacher in their parish Church. It has been made,
says Archdeacon Churton, a question whether, to hold
this appointment, he complied in any way with the
times. The supposition that he did so seems to have
arisen from a mistake as to the office itself. He was
not rector of St. Clement's, or minister, as the style
then ran, but preacher or lecturer. The lawful rector
of St. Clement's during the whole period of the usurpa-
tion >vas Benjamin Stone, a chaplain of Bishop Juxon's,
who was also prebendary of St. Paul's, and rector of
St. Mary, Abchurch ; a man who incurred a bitter
persecution at the hands of the parliament, was very
early voted unfit to hold any eccleisastical benefice,
and suffered a long imprisonment at Crosby House,
and afterwards at Plymouth, without being brought to
trial. He lived to be restored after the return of the
royal family. The intruder in his room at St. Mary
Abchurch was one John Kitchin, whose name appears
with that of Beynolds, Matthew Poole, Manton, Bates,
and about sixty other presbyterian ministers of London
and the suburbs, subscribed to the *' Seasonable Exhor-
tation" of 1660. But at St. Clement's we find no record
10 PEARSON.
of any rector occupying his place ; one Walter Taylor
is called pastor in the parochial vestry-book from 1649
to 1040, but no appointment has been discovered in
the episcopal registers : after his departure the church-
wardens seem to have managed the temporalities, and
the entries in the vestry- book make it probable that the
services of the Church were during this time entirely
discharged by ditierent voluntary lecturers.
Fortune teaches the conquered the art of war. It
was one of the ordinances of the long parliament,
which had now the force of law, " That it should be
lawful for the parishioners of any parish in England
or Wales, to set up a lecture, and to maintain an
orthodox minister, at their own charge, to preach
every Lord's day, where there was no preaching, and
to preach one day in every week, where there was no
weekly lecture." This ordinance, passed in September,
1641, was designed only to open the door, which Laud
and Wrenn had closed in their efforts for conformity ;
but it was left so widly ajar, that tliere w;is room for
Rutulian as well as Trojan to enter in. By degrees
several Churches, left without their lawful pastors, were
supplied with preachers or lecturers who were known to be
friends of the exiled family and the deprived episcopate.
It does not appear that the Triers, Presbyterian or
Independent, had any jurisdiction beyond the admission
to benefices : nor is it easy to see how lectures could
fall under their province, without rescinding the liberty
so impetuously demanded and so eagerly established
at the commencement of the struggle. Thus Dr.
Thomas Warmestry was lecttirer at St. Margaret's
Westminster, till one of Cromwell's parliaments peti-
tioned the protector to remove him. Thus a friend
of Pearson's, a man of gi'eat learning and eloquence
as a preacher, Antony Faringdon, was sometime
preacher at St. Mary Magdalen's, Milk-street : imited,
as Wood savs, by Sir John Robinson, a kinsman of
PEARSON. It
Laud's, (afterwards lieutenant of the Tower under
Charles II.) " and others of the good jDarishioners."
That he was only preacher, and not incumbent, is
evident from his own beautiful and touching sermon
on Gal, iv. 12, preached on his recall to the lecture-
ship, from which a temporary misunderstanding with
tlie parishioners had caused his temporary removal.
In 1655, Pearson published his Prolegomena in
Hieroclem, prefixed to the Oj)uscula of that author
edited by Meric Casaubon. It was two years after
this, that we find him engaged, with his friend Peter
Gunning, in a conference with two Roman Catholics
whom he met in London, on the question whether
the Church of England or that of Rome at the period
of the Reformation was guilty of schism. The con-
ference was prolonged by several adjournments during
the months of May, June, and July, 1657; and then
virtually abandoned : though some negotiations for a
renewal of it were kept up for some time afterwards
with Gunning. In the course of the next year, one
of the Roman Catholic disputants published his state-
ment of the controversy in a volume, said to have
been printed in France, under the title, " Schism Un-
masked; or, a late Conference between Mr. Peter
Gunning and Mr. John Pierson, Ministers, on the
one part, and two Disputants of the Romish Profession
on the other; wherein is defined both what Schism
is, and to whom it belongs." A volume so drawn up,
and printed without the consent or knowledge of one
of the tv^^o parties, has no claim to be considered as a fair
report of the debate. The Romanist, w^ho pubhshed
it, is stated by Baxter, on the information of Tillotson,
to have been a person of the naiue of Tyrwhitt ; with
whom he also had a controversy on paper without
knowing his opponent, and from whom he attempted,
without success, to recover a young Presbyterian maiden,
the Lady Anne Lindsey, daughter of the Countess of
13 PEARSON.
Balcarras, whom Tyrwhitt had persuaded to become
a convert at the mature age of seventeen, and after-
wards conveyed her away to a nunnery in France.
Tyrwhitt's book contains some scattered extracts of
the papers that were offered in the conference by Gun-
ning and Pearson, but arranged in an order of his
own; and he confesses that he does not print all that
they offered, and particularly speaks of a long letter
of six folio pages from Gunning, with which the treaty
appears to have closed, as " too long to be inserted."
No notice was taken of the publication by either
Pearson or Gunning ; and indeed, notwithstanding
all the advantage taken of arrangement and additions
of his own, the book does not present a favourable
aspect of the controversy as conducted by Tyrwhitt
and his ally. It was complained of, as an unfair
relation of the dispute, in the following year, by
Thomas Smith, of Christ's Coll., Cambridge, in a
book called " A Gag for the Quaker ; " and again,
thirty years afterwards, by Dr. William Saywell, mas-
ter of Jesus Coll., in an able pamphlet entitled " The
Reformation of the Church of England justified ac-
cording to the Canons of the Council of Nice, and other
General Councils," in answer to another pamphlet pub-
lished by a Romanist at Oxford, which was an extract
from Tyrwhitt's book, with the title " The Schism of
the Church of England demonstrated in four Argu-
ments formerly proposed to Dr. Peter Gunning, and
Dr. John Pearson, the late Bishops of Ely and Chester,
by two Catholic Disputants in a celebrated Conference
on that point."
In 1659, he published the first edition of his Expo-
sition of the Creed, being the substance of a series
of sermons or lectures preached at St. Clement's, " the
most perfect theological work," as Alexander Knox
well characterises it, "that has ever come from an
English pen." To say more of it than to repeat
PEARSON. 13
this, which is indeed the common sentence of approval
it has received from the Church ever since it first
appeared, is altogether unnecessary. It has remained
without an effort made to amend or supersede it. It
has been continually reprinted as the storehouse and
armoury of the well-furnished theological student ;
repeatedly abridged by judicious and learned clergy-
men, to extend its use as a manual of Christian
education ; and it was at an early period translated
into Latin by a German scholar, Simon J. Arnold,
whose version has been once or oftener reprinted
abroad. Among the abridgments may be mentioned
those of Basil Kennett, and Dr. Burney ; but the
best without comparison is that excellent Analysis
lately published at Calcutta, for the use of his Indian
pupils, by Dr. W. H. Mill, and since re-published in
London.
In this same year, Pearson wrote a preface to Dr.
David Stokes's " Paraphrastical Explication of the Minor
Prophets," an unpretending work of considerable merit,
and one which may be profitably consulted now by
those who desire a modest and safe guide to the mean-
ing of those often obscure Scriptures. Stokes was
one of Brian Walton's fellow-labourers in the Poly-
glott ; he had lost a canonry at Windsor and a living
in Berkshire by the rebellion, but lived to be restored
to both.
He wrote also a Preface to the " Remains of the
learned and ever-memorable John Hales," for whom
he had a strong personal regard.
The noble collection of the " Critici Sacri " alone re-
mains to be mentioned as forming a portion of Pearson's
literary labours at this period. The date of the publi-
cation is 1660 ; but as it was for several years previously
in preparation, it naturally belongs to the period before
the restoration of the royal family. It appears by the
preface, which bears very decisive marks of the hand
VOL. VI u. c
n PEARSON.
of Pearson, that the bookseller, Mr. Cornelius Bee, was
the chief patron and promoter of the work. His name
has been honourably mentioned as an encourager of
works relating to English history and antiquities; but
the great publisher of the theology of the Church at
this period is well known to have been the loyal Richard
Royston. It is probable that Royston, and the other
booksellers whose names are on the title-page, including
Morden and Robinson, the booksellers of Cambridge
and Oxford, had a share in the undertaking; but it
deserves to be remembered to the honour of Cornelius
Bee, that such a monument of sacred literature was
erected by the laudable zeal and enterprise of one
who was by profession only a trader in the service of
learning. The Polyglott was carried on by the help of
many liberal subscriptions from the loyal nobility and
gentry, who, after suffering a second decimation under
Cromwell, had still something to spare for learning,
and the learned sufferers by whom that task was ac-
complished. But the Critici Sacri was a bookseller's
speculation, requiring a very great outlay, before any
return could possibly be made ; it is not easy to say
how many thousands of pounds it would now cost to
reprint it. It is however to be reasonably hoped, that
the event corresponded to his wishes ; the change of
dynasty coming in, just as the nine volumes were ready
to be issued, must no doubt have had a favourable effect
upon the sale ; and there would not be many libraries
to which the Polyglott had found admittance, to which
the Commentators did not follow.
Pearson was engaged in some controversies in defence
of the Church of England, which cannot be more
particularly noticed here ; but an account of which
may be found in Archdeacon C burton's Life of this
great divine.
At length, the Restoration of the Church, together
with that of the monarchy, was effected ; and, at the
PEARSON. 15
close of 1660, Pearson was collated by Juxon, Bishop
of London, to the Rectory of St. Christopher's, in the
city: he was created D.D. by royal mandate: he was
installed as a Prebendary of Ely: nominated Arch-
deacon of Surrey : and appointed Master of Jesus
College, Cambridge.
In 1661, he was selected, with Earle, Heylin, Hacket,
Barwick, Gunning, Thomas Pierce, Sparrow, and Thorn-
dike, to act as one of the representatives, in the Savoy
Conference, of such of the bishops as should be hindered
by age or infirmity, or charge of other duties, from
constantly attending at the meetings. In this confe-
rence he seems to have taken some part from the
commencement of the proceedings ; but we have no
account of his individual share in them, except during
the written disputation of the last few days.
On one of these days, as Baxter relates, Pearson
having offered to answer the objections of the Presby-
terians, it was determined that three on each side
should take by turns the part of opponents and respon-
dents. Upon which Baxter and his friends commenced
by offering to the episcopal disputants the following
unpromising syllogism : —
" To enjoin all ministers to deny the communion
to all that dare not kneel in the reception of the
sacrament on the Lord's day, is sinful : but the Com-
mon Prayer-book and Canons enjoin all ministers to
deny the communion to all that dare not kneel in
such reception : ergo, the Common Prayer-book and
Canons do, or contain, that which is sinful."
To prove the major, Baxter argued that it was con-
trary to the custom of the primitive Church to commu-
nicate on Sundays in a kneeling posture ; because
the twentieth Nicene canon and other ancient autho-
rities shew that the established usage was not to
worship by genuflection on any Lord's day, or any
day between Easter and Whitsuntide, There is a
16 PEARSON. •
remarkable silence in Baxter's statement on the point
which he was more concerned to prove ; namely, that
there was any primitive sanction for the custom of
sitting, as prescribed by the Directory, at the Lord's
table : and an equally remarkable assumption, that
by excluding kneeling at certain times, the primitive
Church intended to exclude all posture of worship.
Of this it is not possible to suppose that Pearson
and his brother disputants could be ignorant. Baxter,
however, states that the answer in which they rested
was, that the Nicene canon and other authorities
spoke only of prayer, and not of the posture at the
communion ; an answer which, though it did not
satisfy him, was known by his better informed oppo-
nents to be sufficient, since it is clear, from testimony
bearing directly on the question, that the ancient
custom was to approach the altar, either kneeling, or
bowing low, which was equally a token of humble
reverence.
And this will perhaps help to explain what Baxter
appears not to have understood in Pearson's way of
dealing with his minor. The Presbyterians were
desired to prove the minor; and Pearson would not
allow their mode of proof, by which they joined the
Prayer-book and Canons of 1603 together. "Dr.
Pierson confessed," says Baxter, "that the Canons
did reject them that kneel not ; but the words of the
Common Prayer-book do not : they only include kneel-
ers, but exclude not others." It is certain that there
is nothing in the Rubric amounting to a prohibition
of administering it to others. It may therefore have
been Pearson's meaning, that before the canon had
fixed it, the minister would not violate the order of
the Praper-book, who should give the sacred elements
to one who stood and bowed himself, though he did
not kneel. This mode of argument, however, was
interrupted by Bishop Morley, whose business it
PEARSON. 17
was, says Baxter, to offend the Non-Conformists ; and
the bishop having given his judgment for the exclu-
sive sense, there was no opportunity for further expla-
nation.
It is not for a moment to be supposed, that Pearson
would have shewn any indulgence to the sitters in the
pews, to whom Tillotson was anxious to grant every
accommodation. In his " Articles for the Primary
Visitation of his Diocese," this point of inquiry was
strictly attended to ; that " all who received this sacred
mystery," should do it " with that outward gesture
of humility and reverence, as became them, lur^^ekly
kneeling upon their knees." But it is now in our
power to refer to a still more decisive testimony from
one of his Cambridge speeches, delivered not long
after the Savoy Conference, and before, or near upon
the time of the secession of Baxter and his eighteen
hundred followers ; a time at which, evidently, he had
some fears lest their example should spread insubor-
dination in the university.
At the conference, it is possible that Baxter mny
have misunderstood him, because he strictly confined
himself to the logical rules of conducting a disputa-
tion,— rules somewhat too rigid for the erratic genius
of his opponent. Accordingly, after many attempts
to re- mod el the syllogism, being closely pressed
with the formal and material errors pointed out by
Pearson and Gunning, Baxter took his papers home
again, and was prepared with a new dissertation instead
of a syllogism, the following morning. Gunning re-
plied to this, and Baxter rejoined at the length of
seven folio pages, but not without a further paper from
Gunning, who seems to have been unwilling that the
Presbyterian leader should occupy the whole time of
the meetings.
In the mean time, the opponents and respondents
having changed places, that none of the space left for
c3
18 PEARSON.
debate might be unemployed, the same argument was
debated in another form, Of this an attested account
was afterwards given by Gunning and Pearson to
Bishop Morley, who pubUshed it in defence of himself
in the following year, when he had silenced Baxter.
The account was also published, where it has been
more generally read, in good Izaak Walton's Life of
Sanderson, with a little postscript of information which
he had received from Pearson. Baxter has left us
a more diffuse report in his Autobiography, but nei-
ther his statement nor comment add any circumstance
which is materially different. The account of Gunning
and Pearson is as follows : —
" This proposition being brought by us, viz., That
command which commands an act in itself lawful, and
no other act or circumstance unlawful, is not sinful :
*'Mr. Baxter denied it for two reasons, which he
gave in with his own hand in writing thus : one is,
Because that may be a sin per accidens, which is not
80 by itself, and may be unlawfully commanded,
though that accident be not in the command. The
other is, that it may he commanded under an unjust
penalty.
" Again, this proposition being brought by us, That
command which commandeth an act in itself lawful,
and no other act whereby an unjust penalty is enjoined,
nor any circumstance whence j:»er accidens any sin is
consequent, which the comramander ought to provide
against, is not sinful :
"Mr. Baxter denied it for this reason, given in
with his own hand in writing thus : Because the first
act commanded may be per accidens unlawful, and
be commanded by an unjust penalty, though no other
act or circumstance commanded be such.
" Again this proposition being brought by us, That
command, which commandeth an act in itself lawful,
and no other act whereby any unjust penalty is en-
PEARSON. 19
joined, nor any circumstance, whence directly or
per accidens any sin is consequent, which the com-
mander ought to provide against, hath in it all things
requisite to the lawfulness of a command, and particu-
larly cannot be guilty of commanding an act per accidens
unlawful, nor of commanding an act under an unjust
penalty :
" Mr. Baxter denied it upon the same reasons.
" Peter Gunning.
"John Pearson."
** Baxter's talent," says Collier, in reference to this
passage, "lay in retiring to foreign distinctions, and
misapplications of the rules of logic. Whether this
involving the argument in mist, was art, or infirmity,
is hard to determine : however, let the most charitable
construction pass." It is a good judgment on the case :
but meantime it is not surprising if Bishop Morley
a man of some spirit, but sincere and benevolent,
charged Baxter with holding principles destructive of
all authority, human and divine ; nor if Bishop
Sanderson, whose mildness and patience are well
attested, thought the genius of logic, to whom in his
youth he had paid great honour, somewhat ill-used
by treatment much more sophistical than subtle.
It seems also that Pearson himself, when he related
to Izaak Walton the incident of which Baxter rather
bitterly complains, did not feel quite so much respect
for his opponent in the disputation, as Baxter pro-
fesses towards Pearson.
" The Bishop of Chester," says Walton, " told me,
that one of the dissenters, whom I could, but forbear
to name," — no question, Baxter is meant, — " appeared
to Dr. Sanderson to be so bold, so troublesome, so
illogical in the dispute, as forced patient Dr. Sander-
son to say with an unusual earnestness, that he had
never met a man of more pertinacious confidence, and
less abilities, in all his conversation."
20 PEARSON.
On the contrary, it is somewhat remarkable that, of
all the phalanx of episcopal divines, Pearson is the
only one, of whom Baxter speaks with entire respect ;
and his testimony would be very honourable to him,
were it not for the groundless insinuations with w^hich
it is accompanied, that the equanimity with which he
commends was a proof of his indifference to the cause
in which he was engaged : —
•' Dr. Pierson and Dr. Gunning," says Baxter, "did
all their work, but with great difference in manner.
Dr. Pierson was their true logician and disputant ;
without whom, as far as I could discern, we should
have had nothing from them but Dr. Gunning's pas-
sionate invectives, mixed with some argumentations.
He disputed accurately, soberly, and calmly, being but
once in any passion, breeding in us a great respect for
him, and a persuasion that if he had been independent,
he would have been for peace, and that if all were in
his power, it would have gone well. He was the
strength and honour of that cause, which we doubted
whether he heartily maintained."
Baxter probably penned this before the appearance
of the " VindicifB Ignatianre;" and perhaps it shews no
more than a wish to persuade himself that his most
learned opponent, was one who desired more liberty
than the Church allowed, a wish to grace his own
cause as far as possible with such a name ; but the
surmise is contradicted by the whole tenor of Pearson's
life, by the character of bis friends, by all his writings,
and not least, by some of those which are now first made
public, by Archdeacon Churton.
In the Convocation which first met during this Con-
ference, on the eighth of May, 1661, there were, as
Pearson said of it, while it was in prospect, " divers
particular concessions to be made for the satisfaction of
all sober minds;" and it appears from the imperfect
journals which remain of their meetings, that he took
PEAKSON. SI
a prominent part in them. For some of the duties
imposed on him, his excellent Latin style was likely to
have pointed out his fitness ; as when he was chosen
to present the prolocutor of the Lower House to the
Upper House, and afterwards, with Dr. John Earle,
the Latin translator of the " Eikon Basilike," to superin-
tend a version into Latin of the amended book of
Common Prayer. But, though something has been
claimed for different distinguished names which are
found 'among the members of this synod, there is
very little evidence, beyond the public records, to shew
what part of the amendments and additions was executed
by individual divines.
Dr. D'Oyly, in his Life of Archbishop Sancroft, has
published an important extract made by that prelate
from the Journal of the Lower House, which is now
lost ; from which we learn that Pearson was one of eight
members of that house who were employed in drawing
up the service for the twenty-ninth of May, and one of
six who were to prepare the prayer for the high court of
parliament ; and when they met again in the winter, he
was one of three, to whom the revision of all the additions
and amendments was committed, in order to its being
received and subscribed by the members of both
houses ; which was done on the twentieth of December,
1661. Thus far we learn from the journals ; and the
absence of all private memoirs is only a proof of the
happy unanimity which now governed their proceedings.
Pearson's name appears again in the journals of the
Upper House in reference to a subject comparatively of
minor importance, but of some concern to the interests
of learning, — a proposal to prepare one general Latin and
Greek grammar to be used in all the schools of England ;
which proposal was occasionally under discussion in the
sessions of 1663 and 1664. Pearson presented such a
grammar to the Upper House on the fourth of May, 1664,
when it was referred to a committee of seven bishops ;
n PEARSON.
but from that time no further notice of it occurs, and
after that date very little sjnodical business was done.
In 1661, Pearson was appointed Margaret Professor
of Divinity, where he delivered those lectures which
are published among his Minor Theological works. In
the same volumes is published his "Theological Deter-
minations." The first of which contains an admirable
argument on the apostolic ordinance of episcopacy, the
dignity of which, as a perpetual distinct order in the
Christian ministry, he vindicates alike from the errors
which have had their rise in the Papal and in the
Presbyterian consistory. " For nothing is more cer-
tain," says Pearson, " than that all diminution of
the rights of episcopacy had its source in the papal
usurpation : and the Pope of Rome appears to me in
no other light, than as an individual who claims to
himself all the authority given to bishops throughout
the whole w^orld, and from the assumption of that
authority to himself, threatens the independence of
Christian princes, states, and churches. Whatever else
relating to ceremonies or opinions you may choose with
the multitude to call popish, it is easy to shew that
it prevails as much, where there is no Pope, or where
all are the Pope's enemies." He then shews how some of
the schoolmen, considering the essence of the Christian
priesthood to reside in the power of consecrating the
holy eucharist, first taught the identity of orders in
bishops and presbyters.
In 166:2, Pearson was appointed Master of Trinity,
resigning both his prebends and his rectory. In 1667,
he became F.R.S. In 1672, he was consecrated Bishop
of Chester. In the same year The Vindicise Epistolarum
S. Ignatii were published. The Introductory Discourse,
says Archbishop Churton, divided into six short chap-
ters, furnishes an account of the rise, progress, and state
of the controversy up to the time at which he wrote, the
different editions both of the interpolated and spurious
PEARSON. 23
Epistles, and the doubts and perplexities of critics, be-
fore Ussher in 1664 discovered the existence of two
English copies of the shorter Epistles in the old Latin
version, and Isaac Yossius in 1646, followed up his
discovery by publishing the Greek text from the Floren-
tine manuscript, which so remarkably agreed with it.
This event had changed the aspect of the dispute.
Andrew Rivet, a respected name for learning among
the Dutch Protestants, and the eminent Jesuit critic,
Petavius, at once recognised the genuine ancient in the
Ignatius of Vossius and Ussher. Salmasius and David
Blondel stood on their old ground ; but with this differ-
ence, that while Salmasius allowed the supposed impos-
tor to have written the Epistles under the reign of the
Antonines, Blondel assigned him a date after the death of
Clement of Alexander, about the beginning of the third
century. These critics were answered briefly by Ussher,
and more fully by Hammond ; and a short pause was
made in the controversy, till Daille in 1666, published
his treatise, *' De Scriptis, quae sub nominibus Dionysii
Areopagitae et Ignatii circumferuntur," in which he under-
took to prove, that, though the shorter Epistles and the
longer were the work of different hands, neither were
written by^Ignatius.
The great celebrity, which the name of this remark,
able man had attained both in England and on the
continent, his diligence in theological research, his
shrewdness of remark and pointed way of exposing
and exaggerating fallacies, his success in argument with
Baronius and Perron and other champions on the Roman
side, and on the other hand his freedom from the ex-
treme Genevan doctrines of the preceding age, which
liad brought him into disputes with Des Marets and
other zealous contra-remonstrants, — all combined to
make his appearance in the controversy an important
incident to both parties. Besides which, he was now a
veteran in the service of literature, having entered on
91 PEARSON.
his seventy-second year when he made his formal assault
on the remains of Ignatius ; though he had before
expressed his doubts in his early work on the Use of
the Fathers, and in his essay " De Jejuniis et Quadra-
gesima," had declared his sentiments to be unaltered
by Ussher's discovery. It was now nearly forty years
since he had written that first and most famous of his
treatises, " De I'Emploi des Peres," — a treatise, which,
with all its faults, was too bold and striking not to have
had a powerful effect on some of the most inquiring
spirits of the time. Its actual influence in England
may have been over-rated, but was not inconsiderable.
No doubt it was still remembered and admired. When
Daille therefore came forward in his old age with this
elaborate attempt to disprove the genuineness of all
that bore the name of the apostolic martyr, it was a
strong proof that he was an earnest disbeliever in these
writings, and a plain challenge to all who saw cause
to trust their authenticity, to be bold in their defence.
Daille's view differed materially from that of Elondel
and Salmasius. He saw the improbability or inutility
of supposing the impostor to have been of so primitive a
date as the middle of the second or the beginning of the
third century. Forgeries are usually the work of an age
of literary ease and leisure, and do not so easily spring
up in the midst of persecution. And if the writer had
been so ancient, under whatever name, his evidence would
have been of some weight in reference to the doctrines
and practices of his own period. He therefore resolved
to assign him a date near the time of Constantine, to
assert that Eusebius was first taken in by the imposi-
tion, and that his error was followed by St. Athanasius
and all subsequent writers. There was however a serious
difficulty in the way of this hypothesis, since it had been
commonly supposed that St. Polycarp and St. Irenseus
had referred to these Epistles, and, besides other testi-
monies less express, there were two treatises of Origen,
PEARSON. J26
which quoted two sentences from the Epistles to the
Ephesians and Romans severally, as they were yet extant.
Hence it became necessary to extend the licence of scep-
ticism, to suspect the Epistle of Polycarp of a partial
interpolation, to question whether Irenaeus did not speak
of some traditional saying of Ignatius rather than of his
writings, and to throw doubts on the genuineness of those
works of Origen, in which the w^ords of the Epistles were
contained. Such was the venturous theory, by which it
was attempted to set aside the external evidence for these
primitive records ; to whose genuineness, as Pearson
proved by a long array of authorities, there was an un-
broken line of witnesses in every age, from the contem-
poraries of Ignatius to the fifteenth century.
As to the internal evidence, it was the plan of Daille
to heap together objections against the interpolated and
spurious Epistle with those that concerned the genuine ;
calculating probably, that a greater impression would be
made on the reader, who was not always likely to ask
whether the critical flail was employed upon the chaff
or upon the pure grain, and that it would give more
trouble to an answerer to be obliged to use the winnowing
fan. His arguments were directed chiefly to four distinct
points : first, to prove that there were allusions to facts
or persons of later date than Ignatius ; secondly, that the
doctrine of certain passages, especially in the Epistle
to the Romans, was unsound and unfit to be ascribed
to the apostolic martyr : thirdly, that there were indica-
tions of a subsequent age in the style and phraseology ;
fourthly, that which has probably been at the root of all
critical suspicions on this subject, that there was much
too distinct an enumeration of the three holy orders of
the Christian ministry for a writer so immediately follow-
ing the Apostles.
Against both these classes of objection the body of
Pearson's work was now directed. It was divided into
two parts of nearly equal length, the first embracing
VOL. VIII. D
26 PEARSON.
the defence of the external, the latter of the internal
evidence. Not only the principal arguments of Daille,
as they directly affect Ignatius, but many discursive
critical inquiries illustrating the main question, of the
greatest interest to the student of Christian antiquity,
are discussed in either part of the Vindicise ; and few
have risen from the perusal without a conviction, that
the learned vindicator, after a most patient sifting of
separate objections, has left his opponent without one
position which is any longer defensible.
Indeed the main difficulty had been in a great degree
removed, when the text of the shorter Epistles was
recovered. The previous doubts had chiefly arisen from
the want of a test to distinguish between what had the
appearance of interpolation and the true antiquity ; for
that there were portions from the very hand of St.
Ignatius, the general assent of candid critics had allowed.
It was no unusual or unprecedented case, that a later
writer should have undertaken to accommodate the style
of an ancient author to his own time, to paraphrase
what seemed to him brief and obscure, and otherwise
to enlarge and adapt the old record to his own purposes.
But there was this peculiarity about the interpolator of
Ignatius, that no principle could be traced in his altera-
tions, no design was avowed, none appeared to be fol-
lowed ; it was nothing but a sophistical display of his
powers of amplification, or some poor conceit that he
could improve upon the matter and form of the original.
But when a copy was found closely agreeing with the
extracts furnished by Eusebius, Theodoret, and other
Greek fathers, with whom the interpolator's portions
were at plain variance, the fact itself was sufficient to
decide the question. There have indeed been a few
persons before and since Pearson wrote, who singularly
enough have shown an inclination to defend the inte-
grity of the interpolated Epistles ; such as the learned
ritualist, Morinus, and our countryman, the wrong-
PEARSON. 27
headed Whiston; and it is not much to the credit of
Mosheim that, after saying what he can to perplex the
question, he ends by leaning to the same side. But the
common sense of all good critics since the appearance
of the Vindiciae, is well expressed by a late worthy
Oxford scholar, whose later performances did not equal
his earlier promise : " The encomium which Pearson
has given to Eusebius may with the utmost propriety
be applied to himself: Ego Eusebium tanta diligentia
tantoque judicio in examinandis ChristianoiTim pri-
maevae antiquitatis scriptis, fuisse contendo, ut nemo
unquam de ejus fide, aut de scriptis, quae ille pro indu-
bitatis habuerit, postea dubitaverit."
Dr. Pearson held the Bishopric of Chester for thirteen
years, but was disqualified from all public ser^^ice by
his infirmities, and especially by a total loss of memory,
for some years before his death, which took place at
Chester, on the IGth July, 1686, in the seventy-fifth
year of his age. He was the author of a Preface to
The Golden Remains of the ever-memorable Mr. John
Hales, of Eton College, 1660, 8vo; No Necessity of
Reformation of the public Doctrine of the Church of
England, &c., a Sermon ; a Sermon preached before the
king, on Eccles. vii. 14, and published by his majesty's
command; the learned Preface, (Praefatio Paraenetica,)
to Field's edition of The Septuagint, 1665, l^mo; and
of Annales Cyprianici, sive tredecim Annomm, quibus
S. Cyprianus inter Christianos versatus est, Historia
Chronologica, printed with Bishop Fell's edition of the
works of that father, 1 682, fol. He was also one of the
editors of the Critici Sacri ; and from his MSS. were
published, after his death, V. CI. Joannis Pearsonii,
S. T. P. Cestriensis nuper Episcopi, Opera Posthuma
Chronologica, &c. Singula praelo tradidit ; edenda curavit
et Dissertationis novis Additionibus auxit H. Dodwellus,
&c„ 1668, 4to.
In 1844, the minor Theological Works of Bishop Pear-
28 PECKHAM.
son, first collected, with a Memoir of the author, notes,
and index, were pubUshed at the Universitj-press at
Oxford, by the venerable Archdeacon Churton, from
which memoir this article is an abbreviation.
PECKHAM, JOHN.
John Peckham was born in the county of Sussex, about
1Q40, and was educated in the monastery of Lewes.
Thence he was sent to Oxford and became a Minorite
friar. He was first professor of Divinity, and afterwards
provincial of his order in England. He twice visited
Paris, and there delivered lectures in theology. From
thence he went to Lyons, where he obtained a canonry
in the cathedral which, according to Carr and Godwin,
was held with the Archbishopric of Canterbury for two
centuries after. It was convenient as a resting-place
between Canterbury and Rome, and the popes were
glad to facilitate the intercourse by which they enslaved
our Church. On going to Rome, he was appointed by
the pope auditor or chief-judge of the palace, or as some
say, palatine-lecturer or reader.
On the vacancy of the See of Canterbury, in 1278,
the Chapter of Canterbury elected Thomas Burnell,
Bishop of Bath, to the vacant see. Nevertheless, though
this was a unanimous election, the Pope of Rome, in
the plenitude of his assumed power, set the election
aside and gave the see to Peckham. The pope claimed
the power because the See of Canterbury was vacated
by his advancing Kilwardby to the cardinalate, making
him Bishop of Porto. To the disgrace of England, it
submitted to this act of aggression on the part of a
foreign prelate. The worst heresies of medievalism were
now prevalent, and Friar Peckham came to England
destined to carry to the extreme the superstitions in
fashion at Rome. To shew the spirit of the fiiar, with
PECKHAM. 29[-
reference to certain wise regulations which had been
made to stay the progress of Popery, we will present
the reader with the substance of a letter, written by
him to the king, Edward I., in 1281 : — "He professes
obedience, and owns his great obligations to the king,
but declares that he could not be bound to disobey laws
which subsisted by a divine authority by any human
laws or oaths : he observes an old rivalry between the
ecclesiastical and secular powers; and speaks of the
Churches being oppressed contrary to the decrees of the
popes, the statutes of the councils, and the sanctions
of orthodox fathers, in which there, says he, is the
supreme authority, the supreme truth, the supreme
sanctity (he forgot the Holy Scriptures,) and no end can
be put to disputes, unless we can submit our sublimity
to these three great laws : for out of these the canons
(as he adds, meaning the canon law) are collected.
He undertakes to prove the authority of these from
Matt. xvi. 18; Deut. xvii. 9—11, 18, 19; Matt. x. SO;
xviii, 19, 20, and then goes on in this manner. Con-
stantine. King of England, and emperor of the world,
granted all that we ask, and particularly, that clerks
should be judged by their prelates only. Wihtred,
King of Kent, granted the same, as is plain from the
council held by Archbishop Brithwald, a.d. 794. This
Knute declared in his laws. King Edward promised to
keep the laws of Knute ; and King William, to whom
St. Edward gave the kingdom, granted that the same"
should be observed. He intimates, that these oppressions
began under King Henry I., but proceeded to a still
greater height under King Henry II. He gives the
epithet damnable to the Articles [of Clarendon] because
Archbishop Thomas suffered banishment and death for
not subscribing them. He tells the king, he was awed
by his conscience to write this letter, that no oath could
bind against the liberties of the Church; and further
says he, we absolve you from any oath, that can any
D 3
30 PECKHAM.
ways incite you against the Church. He begs of the
king to learn this lesson, for which so many of the holy
fathers, and the last but one [of my predecessors] the
Lord Boniface, your mother's uncle, did so earnestly
labour, and to which we believe you inclined, unless
evil counsellors deceive you. Dated from Lambeth,
4 Nones of November, 1281."
The archbishop was consecrated in 1278, upon his
agreeing to pay the pope 4000 marks, which bribe he
was so slow to pay after consecration, that the pope excom-
municated him. Such was medieval corruption. The
archbishop took the University of Oxford under his
patronage, and the following constitution will be read
with interest.
"A Protection of the Liberties of the Scholars at Ox-
ford," by the Archbishop of Canterbury: — Friar John, by
divine miseration Archbishop of Canterbury, primate of
all England, to his beloved in Christ the chancellor, and
university of masters and scholars at Oxford in the
diocese of Lincoln, health, grace, and benediction. We
show all possible favour to them who are seeking the
pearl of knowledge in the field of scholastic discipline,
and willingly grant them what may advance their tran-
quillity by taking away the occasion of their grievances.
Therefore moved by devout prayers, we receive under our
protection your persons, together with all the goods
belonging to you all, which you at present do by fair
means possess, or which ye shall hereafter by God's
help justly get. But especially we with the unanimous
express consent of our brethren, do by the authority of
these presents, and by the patronage of this present
writing confirm to you, and to your successors by you,
the liberties and immunities duly granted you by bishops,
kings, great men, and other faithful people of Christ,
according as ye do now justly and fairly enjoy them.
Further, because we are given to understand, that some
men regardless of their own salvation, when they have
PECKHAM. 31
been laid under a sentence of suspension, or excommuni-
cation for their offences committed in the University of
Oxford, by the chancellor of the university, or by inferior
judges deputed by him, or by the said chancellor together
with the whole university of regents only, and sometimes
both of regents and non-regents, they withdraw from
you and your jurisdiction in contempt of the keys of
the Church ; now to the intent that the said sentences
may have their full force and strength, we with the
express unanimous consent of our brethren, do grant
to you by the tenour of these presents, that the said
sentences, be put in full execution within our province
by ourselves, our brethren, and their officials, as often
as we, or our brethren are lawfully required by you in
this respect. And being willing further to make a more
plentiful provision for your tranquillity, that your com-
munity for the future may be conducted in prosperity
and peace, we grant to you, and with the express unani-
mous consent of our brethren, we ordain and enact,
that if any clerks beneficed in our province be found in
arms by night or by day, to the disturbance of your
peace, or by any other means interrupting the tran-
quillity of the university, and are lawfully and duly
convicted hereof, or do presumptively confess it by their
running away, that their benefices be sequestered in the
hands of their prelates for three years upon an informa-
tion made to the bishops by the chancellor under the
common seal of the university; and that lawful satis-
faction be made to him, or them that have been hurt
by the party so convicted, confessing, or running away,
out of the fruits of such benefices in the meantime to
be received. But if they are unbeneficed, let them for
five years be esteemed incapable of accepting any eccle-
siastical benefice ; unless in the meantime they make
competent satisfaction to them whom they have hurt,
and have by merit recovered the grace of the university,
with a saving to their reputation after satisfaction made.
52 PECKHAM.
In testimony of all which our seal, together with the
seals of our brethren here present, is appendant to this
writing dated in our council at Reading, the day before
the Calends of August, in the year of Grace, 1279, —
Cantuar. Lincoln. Sarum. Winton. Exon. Cicestern.
Wygorn. Bathon. Landaven. Herefordens. Norwycen.
Bangoren. Rofiens."
In July, 1279, the archbishop held a synod at Read-
ing, to force upon the Church of England popish super-
stitions and papal abuses. The constitutions of Othobon,
made in the council of London, 1268, having been read,
the twelve following constitutions were published : —
1. Renews the twenty-ninth constitution of Othobon
against pluralities ; and directs bishops to cause a re-
gister to be kept of all incumbents in their dioceses,
with all particulars relating to them and their livings.
2. Relates to commendaries, and declares that such
as are held otherwise than the constitution of Gregory,
made in the council of Lyons, 1273, permits, to be
vacant.
B. Orders all priests, on the Sunday after every rural
chapter, to explain to the people the sentences of excom-
munication decreed by the council of Oxford in 1222;
and to publish four times in each year the constitutions
of Othobon concerning Baptism at Easter and Pentecost,
and that concerning concubinaries at the four principal
rural chapters, the laity being first dismissed.
4. Orders that children born within eight days of
Pentecost and Easter shall be reserved to be baptised
at these times ; but that children born at other times
shall be baptised at once, for fear of sudden death.
5. Orders the eighth constitution of Othobon (1268)
against concubinary priests to be read openly in the four
principal rural chapters, and declares that such reading
shall be taken as a monition. If the dean or his deputy
neglect this, he is directed to fast every Friday on bread
and water until the next chapter.
PECKHAM. 33
6. Relates to the chrism : orders that what remains of
the old chrism shall be burnt when the new is consecra-
ted : directs that priests shall be bound to fetch the
chrism for their Churches every year from their bishops
before Easter : forbids to use any other than the new
chrism, under the heaviest penalties.
7. Orders that the consecrated host be kept in a fair
pyx, within a tabernacle : that a fresh host be consecrated
every Lord's day; that it be carried to the sick by a priest
in surplice and stole, a lanthorn being carried before, and
a bell sounded, that the people may " make humble
adoration wheresoever the King of Glory is carried
under the cover of bread."
8. Declares the custom of praying for the dead to be
" holy and wholesome ;" and ordains that upon the death
of any bishop of the province of Canterbury, his survi-
ving brethren shall perform a solemn office for the dead,
both singly in their chapels, and together, when called to
assemble in council or otherwise, after the death of the
said bishop ; orders further, every priest to say one mass
for the soul of his deceased diocesan, and intreats all
exempt religious priests and seculars to do likewise.
9. Relates to the preaching of indulgences, and orders
caution in so doing, "lest the keys of the Church be
despised."
10. Forbids to set free, or admit to purgation, on slight
grounds, clerks who having been put into prison for their
crimes, are delivered to the Church as convicts.
11. Enjoins that care be taken to preserve the chastity
of friars and nuns : forbids them to sojourn long in the
houses of their parents and friends.
12. Forbids parishioners to dispose of the grass, trees,
or roots, growing in consecrated ground ; leaves such pro-
duce at the disposal of the rectors : forbids the latter,
without sufficient cause, to spoil or grub up such trees
as are an ornament to the churchyards and places there-
abouts.
U PECKHAM.
Then follows (in some copies) an injunction that the
clergy of each diocese should send at least two deputies
to the next congregation, to treat with the bishops for
the common interests of the Church of England. This
injunction, however, is by some persons said to be not
genuine.
But the most important council in Peckham's episco-
pate was held on the llth of October, 1281, at Lambeth,
the Canons of which throw much light on the very
depressed state of religion in the middle ages. In this
council the acts of the council of Lyons, 1274, the
constitutions of the council of London, 1268, and those
of the preceding council of Lambeth, 1261, were con-
firmed and twenty-seven fresh Canons were published.
The first Canon runs thus : — " The Most High hath
created a medicine for the body of man, which was taken
out of the earth, reposited in seven vessels, that is, in
the seven sacraments of the Church which are handled
and dispensed with little reverence and diligence, as our
own eyes inform us. Here then let us begin our correc-
tion, and especially in the sacrament of our Lord's
Body, which is a sacrament, and a sacrifice of a sacra-
ment, sanctifying those who eat it; and a sacrifice,
which by its oblation is profitable for all in whose behalf
it is made, as well the living as the dead. By daily
scandals we find, that there are many priests of the
Lord in number, few in merit. We chiefly lament this
among their damnable neglects, that they are irreverent
in respect to this sacrament; that they consecrate it
with accursed tongues, reposit, and keep it with con-
tempt ; and neglect to change it so long, that the con-
taining species is corrupted ; so that the Author of our
salvation, Who gave Himself for a viaticum to His Church,
is justly offended with such irreverence ; we ordain as a
remedy to this mischief, that every priest that hath not
a canonical excuse, do consecrate once every week at
least, and that a tabernacle, &c., as in the seventh of
PECKHAM. 35
this archbishop's constitutions at Reading, to the word
Lord's day. Let the bells be tolled at the elevation of
the body of Christ, that the people who have not leisure
daily to be present at mass, may, wherever they are,
in houses, or fields, bow their knees in order to the
having the indulgences granted by many bishops. And
let priests who are negligent in keeping the Eucharist,
&c., as in constitution the seventh at Reading, to the
end. Let priests also take care when they give the
holy communion at Easter, or at any other time to
the simple, diligently to instruct them that the Body
and Blood of our Lord is given them at once under
the species of bread; nay the whole living and true
Christ, Who is entirely under the species of the Sacra-
ment: and let them at the same time instruct them,
that what at the same time is given them to drink is
not the Sacrament, but mere wine, to be drunk for the
more easy swallowing of the Sacrament which they
have taken. For it is allowed in such small churches
to none but them that celebrate, to receive the Blood
under the species of consecrated wine. Let them also
direct them not overmuch to grind the Sacrament with
their teeth, but to swallow it entirely after they have
a little chewed it ; lest it happen that some small par-
ticle stick between their teeth, or somewhere else. Let
parish priests beware that they give not the body of the
Lord to any that have not evidence of their having
confessed by testimonial, or other credible assurance :
and we lay the stress of the proof upon the oath of
him that is to receive the Sacrament, who is to take
care of what concerns his salvation. Let no priest
give the Communion to the parishioners of another
priest without his manifest licence. We extend not
this ordinance to travellers, or persons in danger, or in
case of necessity.
Transubstantiation was now generally received, though
in fact a novelty, (see Paschasim Radbert,) and according
36 PECKHAM.
to the theory of Transubstantiation, communion in one
kind would naturally be deemed complete. But the
withdrawal of the cup was too serious an innovation to
be otherwise that cautiously approached ; hence the cau-
tion of the Canon : —
2. Relates to masses for the dead.
3. Runs thus : We find some have transgressed as
to the sacrament of Baptism. For whereas it is allowed
to laymen, or women to baptize children in case of
inevitable necessity, and such baptism is evidently suffi-
cient to salvation, if the due form be observed; and
they who have been so baptized ought not to be baptized
again ; and yet some foolish priests re-baptize them ;
which is an indignity to the sacrament ; now we firmly
forbid this for the future. But let the Exorcisms, and
Catechisms be used over children so baptized, in re-
verence to the ordinances of the Church. But the
form of the sacrament in the vulgar tongue consists
not only in the signs, but in the series of the words,
as it was instituted by God ; inasmuch as Christ the
Lord hath conferred a regenerative power to those words
80 arranged as they are in the Latin tongue : Let then the
baptizers say thus : — " I christen thee in the Name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." And if
the priest doubt whether the child was baptized in due
form, let him observe the manner in the Decretal, to-
gether with the Exorcisms, and Catechism, saying, " If
thou art baptized, I do not rebaptize thee, if thou art
not baptized, I baptize thee in the name of, &c." Let
priests take care that names, which carry a lascivious
sound be not given to children at their baptism, espe-
cially to those of the female sex. If they be, let them be
altered by the bishops at confirmation.
4. Denies communion to persons not confirmed.
5. Forbids to confer on any, holy orders, i.e., those of
sub-deacon, deacon, and priest, at the same time with
the four lesser orders, i.e., the ostiary, the lector, the
PECKHAM. 37
exorcist, and the acolyth ; and desires that, when it
may be, the lesser orders shall not be received at one
and the same time.
6. Denies absolution to hardened sinners, while they
continue in sin. Forbids under pain of excommunica-
tion any one to hear confessions without licence from
the bishop.
7. Orders public penance for notorious sins, reserves
the absolution of wilful murder to the bishop only. In
both of these canons complaint is made of the general
ignorance or profligacy of the clergy.
8. Directs that in each deanery there shall be a
general confessor for the clergy.
9. Observing that the ignorance of the priests plunges
the people into error, and that the stupidness of clerks
who are commanded to instruct the faithful in the Catho-
lic faith, does rather mislead than teach them, directs
the clergy to explain four times in the year, in the
vulgar tongue, the creed, the ten commandments, the
two evangelical precepts, the seven works of mercy,
the seven deadly sins, the seven cardinal virtues, and
the seven sacraments. Then follows a brief explanation
of them all.
10. Orders the publication of Archbishop Peckham's
sentences of excommunication.
IL Orders rectors to exercise hospitality.
12. Ptelates to certificates given by rural deans.
13. Is directed against the fraudulent methods too
prevalent, which were employed to get possession of
benefices during the absence of their possessors.
14. Prelates to the same, shewing the extreme corrup-
tion of the clergy.
15. Renew^s the 16th canon of Langton at Oxford,
1222, against farming churches.
16. Orders all houses of Augustines to assemble toge-
ther in the general chapter.
17. Enormous lust is so prevailing, that some without
VOL. VIII. E
38 PECKHAM.
any regard to the laws and canons published to excite
the chastity of nuns, commit incest, and sacrilege with
them ; for remedy whereof we lay all clergymen and
laymen who practise such filthiness under sentence of
the greater excommunication ; resersang the power of
absolving them to the persons of the bishops only,
except at the point of deaih, at which time any priest
may absolve them ; uj)on condition that if they recover,
they do within three months make confession to their
proper bishops, or in the vacancy of the see, to the
guardian of the spiritualities, or the Dean of the Cathe-
dral Church, under pain of anathema.
18. Many nuns, like Dinah, delighting in an ill habit
of wandering, frequently fall into a like, or greater
scandal. Now we consulting their salvation rather than
their pleasure, to provide against this danger, forbid
any one of them under pain of excommunication, to
stay even in company wdth a sister nun, much less
without it, in the house of her parents, or relations,
much less of others, of how great estate, dignity, or
sanctity soever they be, above three natural days for the
sake of diversion ; nor above six days upon any occasion
whatsoever, except sickness ; unless the bishops for some
necessary cause shall sometimes please to have it other-
wise, whose consciences we onerate in this point in
respect to the tremendous judgment. We extend not
this to the nuns who are forced to beg for their neces-
sities : and some nuns are so far deceived, as that
though they are of lawful age, and of years capable of
craft, after they have lived, above a year, a monastic
life among the nuns, they think they are not professed,
and that they may return to a secular life, because they
have not received the bishop's benediction, nor made
their solemn vow. We to remove such mistakes, declare
by authority of the present council, that such as have
voluntarily led a regular life in a college for above a
year be deemed ^/>so facto professed; so as not to be
PECKHAM. 39
permitted to return to a secular life ; though they are
solemnly to be consecrated, or veiled by the bishop.
We give the same judgment as to monks, and all other
religious where there is no canonical impediment ; that
if they have for above a year willingly worn the religious
habit in a monastery, and then rejecting it return to
a secular life, they be repelled as apostates from eccle-
siastical benefices ; and be compelled, as the law requires,
to return to their monasteries. Let archdeacons make
diligent inquiry concerning these ; because we know-
many who have the heart of a wolf under the fleece
of a sheep.
19. Provides for the reclamation of relapsed monks.
20. Forbids monks to become executors to wdlls.
21. Though the name of religion be by use appro-
priated to the monastic life, [yet] the good behaviour of
clergymen has a remarkable degree of religious life in
it, if those things be observed which the canons have
decreed. But, alas, very many clergymen of this famous
country, imitate the madness of the Jews, who preferred
the fashions of the Grecians to those of their fathers.
They are ashamed to appear as clergymen, and take the
military dress to please fools, and provoke wise men.
And whereas the crown is the distinguishing mark of
a soldier of the Church, and of a heart enlarged and
open to the celestial rays, they hide their crowns with
hairlaces, and like the Jews have a veil upon their
hearts, whereby those rays are repelled. But we sticking
to the statute of the Lord Othobon do strictly order and
charge, that every clerk in holy orders have his outward
garment unlike to soldiers and laymen, for shape and
comeliness. And because the said legate against clerks
that wore coifs and hairlaces before their prelates, or
people, ordained, that if they did not reform upon a
monition, they should ipso facto incur a suspension
from office, in which if they continued for three months
they should then be suspended from benefice, and not
40 PECKHAM.
be absolved till they have given the sixth part of their
ecclesiastical goods to be distributed to the poor by the
hands of the Bishops, and yet be otherwise punished
at the bishop's discretion: we observing how little
effect this statute hath had, because lesser prelates dare
not admonish such monstrous clergymen, on which ac-
count they seem to have fallen into the punishments
ordained by the said legate as their pusillanimity de-
serves, and such clerks seldom come into the presence
of bishops ; we ordain, that (since ignorance of the law
does not excuse clergymen) such clergymen, as often as
they w^ore such coifs, or hairlaces before their prelates, or
people, do without any monition fall under the punish-
ments aforesaid ; unless it be in a journey. And we
command that special enquiry be made after such for
the future in every deanery, and that whatever their de-
gree or dignity be, they be proceeded against in form
of canon.
22. Forbids the sons of rectors to succeed immediately
to their fathers in churches where they ministered. This
shews that though celibacy was enforced, concubinage
w^as common.
23. Orders bishops to give to every clerk upon his
admission to a benefice letters patent testifying his
admission.
24. Forbids pluralities.
25. Relates to the office of advocate.
26. Orders that when an archbishop or bishop dies,
one mass for his soul shall be said in every parish and
monastery.
In 1282 he went in person to the prince of Wales, then
at Snowdon, in order to bring about a reconciliation be-
tween him and the king (Edward I.) but was unsuccess-
ful ; and, therefore, when, on his return, he passed
through Oxford, he excommunicated the prince and his
followers. He died at Mortlake in 1292, and was buried
in Canterbury Cathedral, near the remains of Thomas a
PELAGIUS. 41
Becket. He founded a college at Wingliam, in Kent.
Wood, in liis Annals, makes frequent mention of Peck-
ham's attention to the interests of the University
of Oxford ; and Tanner enumerates a great number of
his works on divinity, which show him accomplished in
all the learning of his age. These remain, however, in
manuscript, in our different libraries, except some of his
letters published by Wharton, and his statutes, institu-
tions, &c., in the Concil, Mag. Brit, et Hib. vol. ii. Two
only of his works were published separately, and often
reprinted ; viz., his Collectanea Bibliorum, libri quinque;
and his Perspectiva Communis. — Collier. Johnson.
Landon. Tanner.
PELAGIUS, — (See the Life oj Augustine. J
This heresiarch of the 5th century, was born in Wales.
His vernacular name was Morgan, or Marigena, signify-
ing Sea-born, which he changed into Pelagius, a word of
Greek derivation, and of the same meaning. He em-
braced the monastic life, probably in the celebrated
monastery of Bangor. About the year 400, accompanied
by his intimate friend Coelestius, an Irish monk, he went
to Rome, and there began to disseminate his peculiar
notions.
Pelagius was a man of irreproachable morals, and in
his zeal for morality it was that he started his heresy.
He saw the truth abused and leading, in its abuse, to a
laxity of morals, and therefore he tried to introduce a
stricter code. Such a man found it easy to gain a crowd
of followers ; and the heresy spread so much, that it
became neccesary for him to quit Rome, in the year 400,
going to Sicily, and accompanied by Coelestius. They
continued in Sicily, till the report of a conference, held
at Carthage between the Orthodox and the Donatists,
induced them to go to Africa ; but Pelagius did not stay
long there ; and after his departure, Coelestius being
42 PELAGIUS.
accused of denying original sin by Paulinus, was con-
demned by a council held at Carthage in the year 412,
under Aurelius, primate of Africa. Upon this he re-
paired to his friend Pelagius, who had retired to
Palestine. Here they were well received by John,
Bishop of Jerusalem, the enemy of St. Jerome. In
Palestine his doctrine was approved in a council held
at Diospolis, in 415, consisting of fourteen bishops. On
the other hand, the African bishops held a council, accor-
ding to custom, in 416, at Carthage, and decided that
Pelagius and Coelestius ought to be anathematized ; and
they communicated their judgment to Innocent I. in
order to join the authority of the see of Rome to their
own; and, prompted by St. Augustine, they refuted in
a summary way the chief errors imputed to Pelagius,
concluding thus : " Though Pelagius and Coelestius dis-
own this doctrine, and the writings produced against
them, without its being possible to convict them of false-
hood ; nevertheless, we must anathematize in general
whoever teacheth that human nature is capable of
avoiding sin, and of fulfilling the commands of God;
as he show^s himself an enemy to His grace."
Pelagius, who certainly was guilty of such prevarica-
tions at this time as to induce us to suppose that he had
now forfeited the character he once sustained as a moral
man and a lover of truth, resorted to the artifice often
employed by the crafty, and sent declarations of his
orthodoxy and his obedience to Rome. The wicked
policy of the see of Rome has always been to encourage
every act by which the authority of its bishop can be
advanced. Coelestius came to Rome at the time
when Zosimus had just been elected bishop. In an
evil hour for himself and his see, Zosimus, flattered
by the personal appeal to his justice on the part of
the heretics and the acknowledged submission to the
chair of St. Peter, pronounced the innocence of the
Pelaoian doctrine.
PELAGIUS. 43
The Pope of Rome was an avowed Pelagian heretic.
But the African Bishops, though they pitied the heresy
of their brother, were firm in their orthodoxy. They
assembled in 417, to the number of two hundred and
fourteen, and determined, in spite of the heretical Pope
of Rome, to adhere to their decrees against Pelagius,
and before excommunicating Zosimus remonstrated with
and instructed him. In 418, a plenary synod of Africa
was convened at Carthage, and in eight canons it con-
demned the principal of the Pelagian errors.
The Roman Bishop now perceived his mistake, and
pretending that he had been deceived, although he had
but just before accepted the heresy, joined with the
African bishops in condemning the heretic.
Pelagius was banished from Italy by an edict of the
emperor Honorius, in 418. It is supposed that he after-
wards retired to his own country.
The following is a brief statement of his doctrines as
given by Dollinger.
The first man was created mortal, and must conse-
quently have died, whether he had sinned or not. As
death is not therefore the effect of sin, sin has no in-
fluence generally on human nature ; and being a thing
unsubstantial, it cannot affect or change our nature.
Children are born, therefore, in the same state in which
Adam was before his fall, and men are as free now as
he was in Paradise. The words of the apostle, " that
in Adam all have sinned," are to be understood to signify
only that all imitate the first man in the sin which he
committed, for that which is unavoidable is no sin, and
concupiscence, even in its present state, is not evil. All
men can consequently exist free from sin, and observe all
the Divine commandments. That man can desire and
perform what is good, is a power which he has received
from God ; and it is in the bestowing of this power, —
that is, free-will or the power not to sin, — that Divine
grace chiefly consists : grace, therefore, is an assistance
44 PELAGIUS.
which God grants to us, that we more easily perform
those things which He has commanded us to perform by
virtue of our free will ; this grace is no other than the
law, the doctrine and the example of Christ, then the
remission or non-imputation of sin, referring only to the
past, not connected with an interior sanctification or
strength for the avoiding of future offences. In addition
to these external, Pelagius, during the contest, allowed
there were other interior and supernatural graces, such
as the in-dwelling of the Holy Ghost; which, however,
produced no more than an enlightening of the under-
standing, not that sanctifying grace which immediately
affects and guides the will, and which infuses charity into
the soul of man. Of this doctrine the consequence was,
that we are not to pray to God that He would grant us
His grace to love and do what is good, but only the grace
to know it. When, therefore, Pelagius spoke of the neces-
sity of grace, he thereby understood no more than the
first, the grant of free will ; and this he defined to be a
state of indiff'erence, or equipoise of the will between
good and evil : the assisting or helping grace, which he
admitted was not necessary to man for overcoming
temptation or for fulfilling the commandments, but
with it man was enabled to perform good more easily :
it is not a free gift of God, but merited by man by the
good use of his free will : for God gives it to every one,
who, by the sole, proper, due employment of his natural
faculties, disposes himself to receive it. By the power of
his free will alone, man can attain to the true faith, can
merit the second (the assisting) grace, can resist every
temptation, and comply with all the commandments.
Baptism is necessary to adults for the forgiveness of
sins ; but to children, who are born without sin and
without guilt, it is necessary only that they may obtain
the adoption of children of God, and the inheritance of
the kingdom of Heaven ; for children who die unbap-
tized, and Pagans who have lived unstained by crime,
PELLICAN. 45
enjoy eternal life ; not, indeed, in the kingdom of
Heaven, which is open only to those who have been
baptized, and who have been made partakers of the
grace of Christ.
Very few of his writings remain. He was confuted by
Augustine, Jerome, Prosper, and Fulgentius, his con-
temporaries. The history of the Pelagian schism has
been written by Archbishoj) Usher, in his Antiq. Eccles.
Britan, ; Laet ; Gerard Vossius ; Le Clerc ; Cardinal
Noris; Father Garnier, in his Supplem. Oper. Theo-
doreti ; Jansenius, in his Augustine ; and by the Jesuits,
Longueval and Patouillet. — Usher. Mosheim. Dollinger.
PELLICAN, CONRAD.
CoNEAD Pellican, was born at Euffach, in Alsace, Jan.
8, 1478. We have his autobiography in Melchior Adam
at some length. He was educated first at Ptuffach, and
then at Heidelberg. In 1492, he returned to his parents,
who were too poor to support him, and he earned his
livelihood by keeping a school. His desire of improve-
ment was, however, unabated, and he was enabled to
borrow what books he wanted from the neighbouring
monastery of the Cordeliers. His frequent intercourse
with the monks rendered him open to their persuasions,
and, contrary to the wish of his relations, he entered
into their community and took the habit in the sixteenth
year of his age. In 1494, he was ordained a sub-deacon.
In 1496, at the request of an uncle who had befriended
him and who was in better circumstances than his parents,
he went for further improvement first to Basle and then
to Tubingen, where he was instructed and protected by
Paul Scuptor, one of the professors. In 1499, he began
to study Hebrew under the instruction of a converted
Jew. In 1500, Reuchlin came to Tubingen, and under
him PeUican pursued his studies witli such success that,
next to Reuchlin, he was considered the best Hebrew
40 PELLICAN.
scholar in Germany. In ]501,hewas ordained priest
and in the following year he was appointed professor of
Divinity, in the convent of his order at Basle, and edited
the works of St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom. He also
superintended an edition of the Psalter in four languages.
In 1508, he was appointed to a similar professorship at
his native place, and having held other high offices in his
order, he was appointed, in 1519, guardian of the convent
of Basle.
By the study of Scripture he had for some time heen
convinced of the unscriptural state of the existing Church,
and on reading the writings of Luther now brought to
Basle, his convictions were strengthened and his doubts
confirmed. He became by degrees a convert to the re-
former. Pellican fearlessly propounded his opinions, and
in 1522, was accused of Lutheranism in a chapter of his
order. We are not told how he defended himself, but it
was with such success that he obtained permission for
the ablest of the students and preachers to read the works
of Luther. In 1523, Gaspar Sazgar, the provincial,
visited the convent, and hearing complaints of Pellican
and other members of the fraternity, of their being
Lutherans, prepared to remove the accused from their
situations. But he was prevented from taking that step
by the interference of the senate, who confirmed Pellican
in his place, and appointed him fellow-professor of
divinity with Oi^colampadius. Sometime afterwards he
was removed from the office of guardian ; but he still
retained his post at the university, and filled the theo-
logical chair alternately with his learned colleague. In
1526, on the invitation of Zuinglius, he withdrew to
Zurich, where he was appointed professor of divinity
and of Hebrew. He now, in his forty-eighth year, to
show that he finally renounced the papal communion,
took to himself a wife. He doubtless did this as a
protest against the demoralizing celibacy enforced upon
the clergy by the Church of Rome, but he had the vow
PELLICAN. 47
upon him, and by breaking the vow he disgusted those
members of the Church of Rome who were beginning to
see the evil of their system. He should have vindicated
the liberty of others without availing himself of it
on his own account. But the reformers generally took
a different view of the matter. This step lost him the
friendship of Erasmus, with whom he had been inti-
mately connected.
In the same year he edited a second impression of
the Biblia Hebraica, cum Comment. R. Abraam Abe-
neara, et R. Salomonis in Prophetas ; and also of the Se-
pher Michlol, first printed at Constantinople. In 1528,
he took part in the celebrated disputation at Bern, on the
subject of the Eucharist, and published a volume of the
debates and speeches on that occasion. In the follow-
ing year he commenced his public exposition of the books
of the Old Testament. This work, entitled, Commentarii
Bibliorum cum Vulgata Editione, sed ad Hebraicam
lectionem accurate emendata, Zurich, 1531 — 1536, 4
vols., fol , is highly commended by Richard Simon.
He next devoted his labours to an illustration of the
New Testament, which he published in 2 vols., fol. He
had, besides, a considerable share in editing the commen-
taries of Sebastian Meyer upon the Apocryphal books.
He also translated into Latin the Chaldee paraphrases,
including the Targums of Onkelos, Jonathan, and Jeru-
salem, various small Talmudical treatises, and Elias
Levita's edition of the Massora. He published, in Ger-
man, An Exposition of the Pentateuch, Joshua, Ruth,
Samuel, and the Books of Kings. He also published,
Psalterium Davidis ad Hebraicam veritatem interpreta-
tum, cum Scholis brevissimis ; and he bestowed great
labour in editing various commentaries, dictionaries,
&c., of which an enumeration may be seen in Melchior
Adam. He died in 1556. His works have been col-
lected together, and published in 7 vols, fol. — Melchior
Adam.
48 PEPJON.
PEMBLE, WILLIAM.
William Pemble, was bom in 1591, and was educated
at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was a learned man,
though a Calvinist ; he died in April, 1623.
His works, all of which were separately printed after
his death, were collected in 1635, fol., and reprinted four
or five times ; but this volume does not include his Latin
works, De Formarum Origine; De Sensibus internis;
and Enchiridion Oratorium. — Wood. Fuller.
PEEION, JOACHIM.
Joachim Perton was born at Cormeri, in the Touraine,
about 1500, and at the age of seventeen entered the
Benedictine abbey at his native place, and afterwards
studied at Paris, where for twenty years he applied
himself to the reading of the authors of antiquity,
especially Cicero. He was admitted to the degree of
doctor by the faculty of theology at Paris, and during
several years explained the Scriptures in that city with
great applause. By a decree of the university he was ap-
pointed to defend Aristotle and Cicero against Ramus ;
and he discharged that task with great success. He
died in 1559.
His printed works are ; — De Dialectica Lib. III. ;
Historia Abdise Eabylonii ; Topicorum Theologicorum
Lib. II. ; De Origine Linguae Gallicse, et ejus cum
Greca Cognatione ; Liber de sanctorum Virorum qui
Patriarchae ab Ecclesia appellantur Ptebus gestis, ac
Vitis ; De Vita Rebusque Jesu Christi ; and, De Vita
Virginis et Apostolorom; in both of these the Scrip-
ture history is debased by the intermixture of absurd
fabulous legends ; De Romanorum et Graecorum Ma-
gistratibus Lib. III. ; Notes on the Harangues in Livy ;
and, a Latin Version of the Commentary of Origen
upon Job, &c. — Biog. Universelle.
PETAVIUS. 49
PETAVIUS, (PETAU) DAVIS.
Davis (Petau) Petavius was born at Orleans in 1583.
He was educated at Paris, and in his nineteenth year
was appointed to the chair of philosophy at Bourges.
In his twenty-third year he entered into the society of
the Jesuits, and a veritable Jesuit he became. He
studied divinity at Pont a Mousson, and afterwards
taught Rhetoric and Theology at Rheims, La Pleche,
and Pans.
In 1621, he succeeded Fronton du Due in the chair
of theology, which he filled with distinguished repu-
tation for twenty-two years. He Vv'as perfectly versed in
the learned languages, and was well acquainted with the
sciences ; but his particular study was chronology, and
it is upon his writings on that topic that his literary
fame is chiefly founded. Declining an invitation to
Madrid from Philip IV., and to Rome from Urban VIlL,
he continued to live in his cell in the college of Clermont,
where he died in 1652, in the seventieth year of his age.
He had been a great sufferer from the stone, so that he
regarded death as a desirable release. The writings of
Petavius are numerous and various. He appeared as a
translator and critical editor in his Latin versions and
editions of several pieces of St. Epiphanius, of Synesius,
Themistius, the emperor Julian, and the historical
abridgment of the Patriarch Nicephorus. He exercised
himself in poetry both in the Greek and Latin languages,
in the former of which he gave a paraphrase of all the
Psalms and Canticles.
The first of his more important works is, De Doctrina
Temporum, 2 vols, folio, 1627; it was republished with
considerable additions by himself, as well as by Har-
douin and others, in 8 vols, folio, Antwerp, 1703; it is
generally accompanied by his Uranologia, in quo Graeci
Auctores varii de Sphsera ac Sideribus commentati sunt,
VOL. VIII. F
50 PETAVIUS.
&c. folio, 1630. He also published : — Rationarium Tem-
porum, 2 vols. 8vo., 1652 ; this is an abridgment of his
De Doctrina Temporum, with an abstract of general
history; of the various editions of this useful work, the
best is reckoned to be that of J. Conrad Rungius, 2 vols.
-Svo. Lugd. B. 1710; Perizonius published an edition of
it, with a continuation down to 1715 ; and, Dogmata
Theologica, 3 vols, folio, 1644 — 1650; the best edition
is that of Venice, 1758, 7 vols, folio, superintended by
Zaccaria, with dissertations, notes, and a life of the
author.
This is the work for which he is " damned to fame" in
the theological world, and which has been demolished by
our own Bishop Bull. His object was to prove that the
Ante-Nicene fathers were not orthodox or Homoousians
on the doctrine of the Trinity. Hence, the Arians
have claimed him as their own, and " Unitarians"
in their own unfairness praise him for the "fairness
of his statements." Anything but fairness of state-
ment appears to have been the design of Petavius.
Bishop Bull acquits him of any intention of advancing
the cause of Arianism, and suggests that he had in view
the support of the pope rather that Arius, and of the
Church of Rome than of any other sect. His course
was truly Jesuitical, and such as other writers of his
communion have not feared to pursue. Truth and
Christianity itself they would sacrifice to promote the
interests of the Roman see. Petavius perceived that if
the Catholic writers of the first three centuries were
almost all of the same opinion, which was afterwards
condemned in Arius for heresy, by the Council of
Nice ; or that they wrote in such a manner as they
m.ight at least be thought to hold such an opinion, by
their loose way of expressing themselves ; it will thence
follow, as he (Prooem. 88,) has himself observed, first,
that there is very little regard to be had to the fathers
of the first three centuries, to whom the reformed Catho-
PETER. 61
lies generally appealed, and secondly, that general councils
have a power of making new articles of faith, or of
manifesting and declaring them, as he preferred to ex-
press it : the inference from all which he designed to
be that all the additions to the primitive faith, voted at
the pretended Council of Trent, ought to be received
without examination. With this view, Petavius set to
work to prove the heterodoxy of the Ante-Nicene fathers.
How completely and miserably he has failed may be seen
in the incomparable works of Bishop Bull. The more
honest or less crafty of his own communion became
alarmed at his boldness, and the Sorbonne compelled
him to qualify his statements in an orthodox preface,
which, however, has only made him appear inconsistent
with himself. In like manner his representations of the
opinions of St. Augustine having given offence to his
brethren of the society, he was forced to retract, and
adopt the Molinist sense of those doctrines. It is re-
ported that he said to a friend, as a reason for this altera-
tion, " I am too old to change my lodgings," intimating
that he must otherwise have quitted the society : such
was its tyranny in matter of opinion! The style of
Petavius, when writing upon these abstruse and thorny
subjects, is much admired for its purity and clearness.
His life is written at length by Father Oudin, in the
"Memoires du Niceron." — Oudin. Bull. Bayle.
PETER.
Peter, Bishop of Alexander, one of the most illustrious
prelates of the fourth century, was educated at Alexan-
dria, of which city he was probably a native. He was a
pupil of Thomas, the bishop of that see, whose successor
he became in the year 300. " He was," says Eusebius,
" a most excellent teacher of the Christian doctrine— an
ornament to the episcopal character, both for the holiness
53 PETEK, BLESSENSIS.
of his life, and his laborious application in studying and
explaining the sacred Scriptures. He governed the
Church three years before the persecution. The rest
of his time he passed in a more strict and mortified
course of life, but without neglecting the common good
of the Churches." "Without any crime of any kind
laid to his charge," adds the same writer, " beyond all
expectation, on a sudden, for no other reason but the
will of Maximin, he was taken into custody and be-
headed." His martyrdom took place in 311. He had a
quarrel with Meletius, Bishop of Lycopolis, which pro-
duced a long schism in the Egyptian Church. He is the
reputed author of: — A Book on Penance, thirteen canons
of which are inserted in Greek and Latin, in the first
volume of the Collect. ConciL ; Some fragments also
of another treatise attributed to him. Concerning the
Divinity, may be met with in the third and fourth vols,
of the same collection. — Eusehius. Dupin.
PETER, BLESSENSIS.
Blessensis Peter, or Peter of Blois, who flourished
in the 12th century, was educated at Paris and Bologna.
He was a pupil of John of Salisbury, so frequently
mentioned in the life of Thomas a Becket.
In 1167, he travelled into Sicily with Stephen, son of
the Count of Perche, and cousin to the queen of that
island, where he was appointed tutor, and afterwards
secretary, to William II. of Sicily. When, however,
Stephen, who had been made chancellor of the king-
dom, and Archbishop of Palermo, was sent into banish-
ment, Peter was involved in his disgrace, and found it
necessary to take refuge in his native country. Hence
he was invited into England by Henry II., at whose
court he continued for some time, and was nominated
Archdeacon of Bath. He next entered into the service
of Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, (the successor of
PETER, CHRYSOLOGUS. 53
Thomas a Becket,) who appointed him his chancellor,
and deputed him to negotiate business of importance
relating to his metropolitan see, with Henry IT. and
Alexander III. and Urban III. After the death of
Henry he resided for a time at the court of Queen
Eleanor. Late in life he was deprived of his Arch-
deaconry of Bath ; though he was was afterwards in
some degree compensated for his loss by obtaining that
of London. He died in 1200. The word Transubstan-
tiation is said to have been first of all made use of by
him to express the doctrine of the Romish Church on
the subject of the Eucharist. The most considerable of
his remains consist of Letters, one hundred and eighty-
three in number, which he formed into a collection by
order of Henry II. They abound in quotations from
the Scriptures, as well as from ecclesiastical and profane
writers. There are also still extant several sermons of
this author, and various treatises which he wrote on
doctrinal and moral topics. Peter de Goussainville
published a new edition of all his works, 1677, fol.,
with notes and various readings, which is inserted in
the twenty-fourth volume of the Bibl. Patr. A work of
his on Canon Law and Process has lately been discovered,
of which an account is given in the Zeitschrift fiir
Geschichtliche Rechtswissenschaft, vol. vii. p. 207. —
Cave. Lyttelton. Moreri.
PETER, CHRYSOLOGUS.
Peter, surnamed Chrysologus, a celebrated Italian pre-
late of the fifth century, was born at Forum Cornelii,
(Imola) ; and also educated at his native place, where
he became deacon to Cornelius the Bishop. Without
noticing the legendary tales which are related concerning
him, we have only to state, that he was elected Bishop of
Ravenna in the year 483, and died before 451. His
F 3
54 PETER THE HERMIT.
eloquence was greatly admired ; whence he had the sur-
name of Chrysologus, meaning golden speaker. What
remains of his productions consists chiefly of Sermons,
or Homilies, containing short explanations of portions
of the sacred Scriptures, accompanied with moral reflec-
tions. They are drawn up in a perspicuous and pleasing
style ; and are distinguished by a happy union of con-
sciousness and elegance. They were collected together
two hundred and fifty years after his death, by Felix,
one of his successors in the see of Ravenna, and were
first printed, to the number of 176, at Cologne, in the
year 1541. Afterwards they underwent repeated impres-
sions at the same place, Antwerp, Paris, Lyons, Venice,
and Bologna, and were inserted in the seventh volume
of the Bibl. Patr. Six others, on the Lord's Prayer,
are given by Father D'Achery in his " Spicilegium."
There is also still extant " A Letter to Eutyches the
Archimandrite," in which Peter declares against the
sentiments of that monk, and expresses his approbation
of the conduct of Flaireneus. It was first published
by Gerard Vossius at the end of his edition of Gregory
Thaumaturgus. — Moreri. Cave.
PETER THE HERMIT.
Peter the Hermit was born in the eleventh century,
at Amiens, in Picardy. He was a soldier in early life,
and then retired to a hermitage in the South of France,
where he devoted himself to austerities ; abstaining
from flesh meat and bread, but permitting to himself
the use of wine. The fanaticism of the age evinced
itself in the love of pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and to
Jerusalem, in 1093, Peter bent his steps. He viewed
with horror the barbarity of the Turks and the sufferings
of the faithful. The desire and the hope of effecting
the deliverance of the daughter of Zion rose in his
PETER THE HERMIT. 56
bosom ; he sought the patriarch, the venerable Simeon,
and they mingled their tears as they bemoaned the com-
mon calamity. " The sins of the oriental Christians,"
said Simeon, "have made nought their power; the
Greeks have, within these few years, lost half their
empire ; our own hope lies in the strength and piety
of the nations of the West." The enthusiasm of the
hermit broke forth, and he offered his aid. " I send thee
then," said the patriarch, "as the envoy of the Church
of Jerusalem to her daughter in the West, to entreat of
her pity and aid for her unhappy parent." The anchorite
accepted the commission, and received letters for the pope
and potentates of the W^est.
Even Heaven itself seemed to the heated imagina-
tion of the hermit to interpose in his mission. As in
the evening he poured forth his soul in prayer, in the
Church of the Resurrection, to God and the saints, to pros-
per his undertaking, sleep came over his weary frame, and
in a dream Christ appeared to him, and said, " Arise,
Peter, haste, and do boldly what thou hast undertaken.
I will be with thee, for the time is come that the sanc-
tuary should be cleansed, and my people holpen." He
awoke full of vigour, went and told his dream to the
patriarch, and hasted to Antioch to embark for Italy.
This dream of the hermit has been by many regarded
as a pious fraud ; for our part we are disposed to view
it as a reality. There is nothing in the character of
Peter which should lead us to look on him as a hypocrite,
but he was a man constitutionally timid, with a very
excitable imagination. To such a man, when, over-
whelmed with the magnitude of the task he had
assumed, and exhausted by fasting and the fervour of
devotion, he sunk in sleep, nothing was more natural
than the appearance of such a dream as we have related.
Ill is he qualified to enter into the spirit of the crusades
who discerns falsehood and imposture at every step !
Peter landed at Bari in ApuHa. Without loss of tima
56 PETER THE HERMIT.
he hasted to Rome, and placed in the hands of Pope
Urban 11. the letter of the patriarch. Urban approved
of his project, and gave him letters from himself to all
Christian princes. The hermit, thus furnished with cre-
dentials, traversed Italy ; he crossed the Alps, and visited
all parts of France. Mounted on a mule, his head and
feet bare, his coarse pilgrim's garment bound round
him with a cord, and a crucifix in his hand, he went
from province to province, and from town to town.
He confined his addresses not to the great alone; he
harangued the assembled people, he set before them with
all the fire of his eloquence the sufferings of pious
pilgrims, the profanation of the holy places; he told
them how the Saviour had deigned to appear to him
personally ; he read to them the letters of the patriarchs,
and other Christians ; he even, it is said, shewed them
one which had fallen from heaven. The benevolence of
the pious loaded the hermit with gifts, these he bestowed
on the poor, or employed in providing husbands for
women who renounced a sinful course of life. Where-
ever he came he preached peace and concord, and his
words found obedience as coming from God. Wherever
he went he was regarded as a saint, and the very hairs
that fell from his mule were preserved as relics.
A council was meantime assembled by the pope at
Piacenza, which was so numerously attended that it
could not as usual be holden in a church, and a field was
the scene of deliberation. Ambassadors appeared from
the Greek emperor, who pourtrayed the power and ferocity
of the Turks, and the peril of the empire, and implored
the aid of the Latin Christians. The pope supported
their prayer, and a large number of those present
swore to march to the aid of Alexius against the Infidels.
But Italy was not the place where a spirit of holy enthu-
siasm could be best excited. The feudal principle was
not strong in that country, the imperial party was
numerous, and commerce with the East had taught the
PETER THE HERMIT. ST
people to view the Moslems with less abhorrence than
was felt by those who only knew them by fame. Urban
therefore resolved to make France, of which country he
was a native, the scene of his greatest efforts.
In the year 1095, the pope crossed the Alps. Having
holden councils in Puy and other places to prepare the
clergy, he appointed the eighth day after the festival of
St. Martin (the 11th Nov.) for the meeting of a general
council of Clermont, in Auvergne, whither the clergy were
commanded to repair under penalty of the loss of their
benefices. More than three hundred prelates and abbots
obeyed the summons of the pontiff, and the number of
the inferior clergy was proportionably great ; the atten-
dance of the laity was immense. The town of Clermont
sufficed not to contain within its wall the prelates,
princes, ambassadors, and nobles who crowded thither,
" so that," says an old chronicler, "towards the middle
of the month of November, the towns and villages
around were all filled with people, and many were
obliged to pitch their tents in the meads and fields,
though the season and the country were full of extreme
cold." When the ordinary business of the council had
been gone through, and the Truce of God had been
again enjoined, the pontiff assembled the people in an
open square, where he ascended a stage, and took his
seat on a throne surrounded by his cardinals, with the
Hermit standing at his side, then arose and addressed
the people in a very animated discourse, at the con-
clusion of which, as well as in the course of its delivery,
the people, melted to tears and glowing with enthusaism,
shouted "God wills it." Ademar, Archbishop of Puy,
ran forward with a joyful countenance, and falling at the
feet of the pontiff craved permission to share in the holy
war. His example was followed by William, Bishop of
Orange. Clergy and laity pressed forward to enter on
the way of the Lord. They all cast themselves on the
ground, and one of the cardinals read a general confes-
58 PETER THE HERMIT.
sion in their names, and the pope bestowed on them the
absolution of their sins. Each pilgrim affixed a red
cross to the right shoulder of his garment, hence they
were called the Crossed (Croises) and the Holy War
named a Crusade (Croisade). The pope charged the
clergy, on their return home, to stimulate the warlike
portion of the people to the holy expedition, and to
prohibit all others from sharing in it. The prelates
besought him to be their leader, but he excused himself,
as there was an anti-pope, and he was still on ill terms
with the emperor of Germany and the King of France,
but he promised to join them as soon as peace was
restored to the Church. Meantime he appointed the
Bishop of Puy to be his legate in the camp of the
faithful.
The crusaders of the better sort were led by Godfrey
of Bouillon. A promiscuous horde of men and women
to the number of 60,000, was led by Peter from the
borders of France, along the banks of the Rhine and
the Danube. Their progress was marked by pillage and
disorders of all kinds, and by the massacre of all the
Jews who fell in their way. As they approached the
confines of Hungary and Bulgaria the fierce natives of
those countries rose upon them, and cut them off in such
numbers, that only a third part, with Peter himself,
having taken refuge in the Thracian mountains, at
length escaped to Constantinople. Almost all these
were afterwards slain by the Turks in the plain of Nice,
while Peter had prudently withdrawn from the camp,
and remained in the Greek capital. He, however,
accompanied the better disciplined army of Godfrey,
and v^as present at the siege of Antioch in 1097. But
his fanatical ardour seems now to have deserted him ;
for during the hardships attending that enterprise he
attempted to make his escape. He was, however,
brought back by Tancred, who obliged him to swear
that he would never desert an expedition of which he
PETER THE VENERABLE. 59
was the first mover. He afterwards distinguished him-
seK at the siege of Jerusalem, on which account he has
obtained immortal renown from the muse of Tasso.
After the capture of that city he was appointed by the
patriarch, during his absence in Godfrey's army, to act
as his yicar-general. Peter died the 7th of July, 1115,
at the Abbey of Neu-Moutier, near Huy, of which he
was the founder. — Keightley.
PETER THE VENERABLE.
Maurice Peter, generally known as Peter the Venerable,
was born in the year 1093, being the descendant of a
noble house in Arragon. He was dedicated by his
parents to a monastic life, and received his education
in the Monastery of Clugni, a house of a so-called
reformed branch of the Benedictine order. In his
twenty-eighth year he was made prior of Vezelay, and
soon after prior of Domnus. He was called to fill the
vacant place of abbot of Clugni, in the year 1123, and
was at the same time chosen general of his order.
The circumstances of his appointment are remarkable
and illustrate the spirit of the middle ages. The order
of Clugni originated in a project of conventual refor-
mation, and had at first the tendency to restore the
precise and literal observance of the Benedictine rule,
in all its primitive austerity. The convent was at first
only distinguished for the severity of its discipline, and
the frequency of its devotional exercises. The fame of
this attracted the reverence and the gifts of the people :
a succession of eminent men had presided over the order,
whose advice and participation had been solicited by
popes and sovereigns in affairs of moment. The
benevolent purposes to which they applied their wealth
excited general esteem and affection. But the wealth
^nd power of the order produced their usual results, the
60 PETER THE VENERABLE.
relaxation of their original severity of discipline, and the
abandonment of that mechanical system of monkish
devotion, so wearying to the spirit. The convent richly
adorned, had now become the seat of arts and learning,
but with these came also their accustomed and pernicious
followers — luxury and sensuality. Under the sway of
Pontius, a young and worldly man, who, in the year
1109, was chosen abbot of Clugni, the revenues of the
monastery were squandered, and many disorders and
abuses inimical to its interests and authority suffered to
prevail. The case at last became so notorious, as to
reach the ears of Pope Calixtus the second, who ad-
monished Pontius of the impropriety of his conduct.
In consequence of this, the abbot abdicated his post, and
resolved on undertaking the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
It was to his place, declared vacant, that Peter the
Venerable was appointed. The repentance of Pontius,
however, seems to have been transient. At the end of
two years he endeavoured to reinstate himself in the
supremacy of the order ; and as his character was far
more suitable to the general inclinations of the monks,
than that of Peter, who, though far more gentle, was at
the same time stricter in moral and religious require-
ments, he found many partizans, and having forced his
way into the convent during the absence of Peter, he
seized on the treasures belonging to the monastery, even
to the splendid ornaments of the church, the costly cruci-
fixes, and the golden reliquaries, in order to gain the means
of strengthening his party. These proceedings led to
the greatest confusion in the order, till at length Pope
Honorius the second interfered, and by his authority put
an end to the strife, and in the year 1125 reinstated and
confirmed the abbot Peter, in his office. But these
disorders had left many pernicious results in the con-
dition of the order, which had tended greatly to the
prejudice of his authority. At this era the Cistercian
order was extending itself widely, and to its extension
PETER THE VENERABLE. 61
Bernard contributed far more than the presiding abbot.
By their rigid ascetic austerity, and their hteral adhe-
rence to the Benedictine rule, the Cistercian monks were
pecuHarly distinguished from the luxurious Clugniacs,
and obtained in consequence the greater veneration.
The character of humihty and poverty, conveyed by the
unadorned plainness of their convent and churches,
presented a remarkable contrast to those of Clugni with
their manifold decorations and paintings, and this
diversity of character led to a spirit of rivalry between
the orders, and which their frequent collisions in their
efforts for extension had a further tendency to promote.
The men who had sought the seclusion of the cloister,
in order that, escaping from the passions and the
tumults of earth, and dead to the attractions of the
world, they might live to the Spirit, here gave proof that
the change of place and external modes of life, were
insufficient of themselves to change the heart of man,
(Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret) and that
it must be something above nature, and therefore unat-
tainable by external forms, and unconnected with any
peculiar localities, which can alone have power to over-
come nature. The same vain pride and petty jealousies
which agitate the world, were seen to actuate those who
had withdrawn from it, and their operation was but the
more sensibly felt, from the limited sphere on which
they were now exhibited, and from the restraint which
had been put on the passions inherent in human
nature.
Even in their external appearence the Cistercians were
distinguished from their brethren, having exchanged the
original black garment of the monks for one of white.
This widened the brea^^h, for the rivals could not now
meet without immediately recognizing each other. But
the superiors of the two orders, Bernard of Clairvaux,
and Peter of Clugni, possessed too much elevation of
mind, and had formed too just an estimate of the vital
VOL VIII. G
62 PETER THE VENERABLE.
character of religion, to suffer themselves to be swayed
by these passions, or to become enemies on account of
external differences.. When at any time they were
alienated by contending interests, the gentle and amiable
Peter was always ready to make the first advances
towards reconciliation, and thus their original friendship
was soon restored. They were united in the bonds of
mutual esteem and affection, and Peter rejoiced in the
universal veneration which Bernard attracted ; in affairs
of moment they were always found to co-operate. They
had both expressed their views of the reciprocal relation
of the two orders, in several papers drawn up for the
purpose of exposing the defects of each, and of clearing
the way for a just estimate of existing differences ; and
in the hope of promoting mutual love and due mode-
ration.
The venerable abbot of Clugni, in one of his letters
written to Bernard to solicit his co-operation in composing
differences between the rival orders, lays down as a principle
the fact of differences with regard to external usages
having at all times existed between different Churches,
without operating to the hindrance of mutual love, since
they involved nothing prejudicial either to faith or love.
And thus it ought to be with the members of both orders,
since both were striving, through the medium of the
different practices by which they were severally distin-
guished, to attain the same object, even eternal life. It
was true, indeed, that though both Cistercians and
Clugniacs were governed by the same Benedictine rule,
they differed in its application, and deviated from the
letter of the rule ; but since the motive in which all had
originated was the first thing to be considered, Christian
love as the soul of all actions must decide as to the
application of the law. In support of this, he quotes the
words of the Saviour, " If thine eje be single, thy whole
body is full of light," and the sublime and faithful saying
of Augustine, " Habe caritatem, et fac quicquid vis."
PETER THE VENERABLE. 63
He carries this principle still further in a letter written
to Bernard, to defend his brethren against the imputa-
tions of the Cistercians. In order to justify them from
the reproach of having departed from the Benedictine
rule, he appeals to the practice of many councils and
popes, whereby the old ecclesiastical laws had been
modified and altered, so as to adapt them to the circum-
stances and exigencies of the times. Then, assuming
his opponent to have answered this by the allegation of
greater authority and sanctity; he rejoins that his order
also numbered among its members, men who were
honoured by the Church as saints ; but that the ques-
tion here was not one of sanctity, but of authority, and
that in this respect the authority of the abbots of Clugni
was as absolute in their order, as that of bishops in their
particular sees, or of popes in the Church at large. In
general, however, neither sanctity nor authority suBced
for the justification of these changes, since the holiness
and authority of the successors might not be brought
into consideration with the holiness and authority of
those whom they had succeeded ; either the former
practice needed to be changed, or that which has
superseded it must be evil. It was requisite then to
have a rule by which these changes might be judged,
and by which the earlier and later revelations of God
and the laws of the Church might, where they differed in
the letter, be made to agree in the spirit, and this rule is
love. Love is free in all her actions, and is occupied in
ministering to the welfare of mankind, according to the
various wants, and the differing circumstances of divers
times ; it is for her, therefore, to give and to change
laws. The lawgivers of the Church are but the sec-
retaries of this love, for this love is the Holy Ghost,
and although her laws may vary, yet in her is "no
variableness, nor shadow of turning," for she remaineth
ever the same. The Cistercians themselves are the real
violators of the rule of Benedict, since they infringe th§
64 PETER THE VENERABLE.
law of love, by adhering pertinaciousl}', and to the per-
judice of their brethren, to those outward things, which are
to be adapted to the different circumstances of mankind.
(The councils might, indeed, have been called the organs
of the Holy Ghost if they had been possessed with this
spirit, this idea of a progressive and self-developing
Church, for there would then have been no danger of
their confounding the mutable with the immutable,
human forms with divine revelations, and of fettering
the spirit with the letter.)
We proceed to give some further extracts from his
letter, on account of the characteristic peculiarities of
the imputations cast upon the monks of Clugni, with
the grounds on which these are refuted by Peter.
" The monks," it was urged against the Clugniacs,
" should present the image of an apostolic fellowship ;
they should have no property, but should live by the
labour of their hands ; they should not possess parish
churches, tithes, or first-fruits, as do the Clugniacs; for
these belong of right to the clergy, by whom the churches
are served." To this, Peter replies, " Who has the
greater right to the oblations of the faithful ; the monks
who are continually supplicating God for sinners: or the
clergy, who, as we see at this time, devote themselves
entirely to the eager pursuit of earthly things ; to the
total neglect of their spiritual calling, and the salvation
of souls?" But, an accusation of a still more formidable
character was brought against the Clugniacs, that of having
indiscriminately received as gifts — castles, townships,
peasants, serfs, maidens, tolls, and of having defended
themselves in the possession of the same without scruple
against all aggressors. To this, Peter replied, " That
these possessions were turned to far better account, and
the peasants far better treated by the monks, than they
had previously been. The manner in which the tem-
poral lords exercise their power over their bond serfs, is
a matter of notoriety. Not content with their customary
PETER THE VENERABLE. 65
and bond service, they appropriate to themselves the
goods with the persons, and the persons together with
the goods ; and thus it is, that after having made the
usual deductions, they come and plunder these unhappy
people three or four times in the year, or as oft as they
will ; they oppress them with innumerable services, laying
upon them heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, so that
at last they force them to abandon their native homes,
and to seek shelter in a foreign land. And what is still
more abominable, they do not scruple to sell the men
whom Christ hath made free, and purchased at the cost
of His own blood, in exchange for so vile a thing as gold.
The monks, on the contrary, only avail themselves of their
bond and moderate service, in order to procure the neces-
saries of life ; and instead of vexing them with deduc-
tions, they sustain them in poverty, from their own stores ;
in a word, they treat their vassals as brothers and sisters."
In another letter he writes to Bernard : — " It has long
grieved me sore, that men, who to this very hour are in
hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, labouring with
their hands, and in all things following the holy Paul,
should yet, while they perform the weightier matters,
leave the lighter undone. And thou art one of those.
Thou keepest the hard commands of Christ, in fasting,
watching, weariness, and labour, and yet thou disre-
gardest that easy one, of love." He then calls upon
Bernard to exert his influence with the Cistercians so far
as at least to induce them to receive their brethren of
Clugni into their convents, even although they should
persist in the use of the customs and the dress which
had first given rise to their divisions, that so by frequent
interchange of good offices, mutual love might be re-
stored. He had himself made this concession fifteen
years before, with regard to all the convents of his order,
excepting that of Clugni, and he now offered to extend
the privilege to that chief convent, if his request were
complied with.
G 3
C6 PETER, COMESTOR.
In the year 1140, Peter afforded an asylum to Peter
Abelard, as we have seen in the hfe of that too cele-
brated person.
So high was his reputation for wisdom and prudence,
that, in the year 1145, Pope Eugenius sent for him into
Italy, in order to endeavour, by his admonitions and
councils, to reconcile the hostile factions which had in-
volved the Tuscan territories in civil war ; but their
obstinacy and inveterate enmity rendered all his efforts
for that purpose ineffectual. In the year 1150, having
occasion to take a journey to Rome, on business relating
to his monastery, he was received there with the highest
honours by Pope Eugenius, and the Roman citizens.
He died at Clugni, in 1156, when he was about 63 years
of age.
He acquired the surname of Venerable from the great
seriousness and gravity of his demeanour. He procured
the Koran to be translated out of the Arabic into Latin,
and wrote a treatise in four books against the Mahome-
tans. He was also the author of several other polemical
pieces, against the Jews, Petrobrusians, &c., and various
miscellaneous writings, in prose and verse. His works
were first published at Ingoldstadt, in 1546; and after-
wards at Paris, w^ith the notes of Duchesne and Marrier,
in the year 1614. The edition last mentioned has been
inserted in the 22nd vol. of the Bibl. Patr. Two of
his Letters, not before edited, were printed by Father
Mabillon, in the 2nd vol. of his Analecta ; and a third
by DAchery, in the 2nd vol. of his Spicileg. (Com-
pare the lives of St. Bernard and of Abelard.) — Cave.
Neafiders Life of Bernard.
PETER, G0ME3T0R.
CoMESTOR" Peter, or Peter the Eater, was a native'of
TroyeS; in Champagne, where he flourished in the 12th
PETER, COMESTOR. G7
century. He was Canon and afterwards Dean in the
Cathedral Church in his native city, whence he was
removed to the Deanery of Notre Dame, in Paris. This
benefice he resigned to enter a regular Canon of St.
Victor, in Paris. He died in 1198, having directed the
following epitaph to be placed on his tomb : —
Petrus eram, quern Petra tegit, dictusque Comestor.
Nunc comedor. Vivus docui, nee cesso docere
Mortuus ; ut dicant, qui me vident incineratum,
" Quod sumus, iste fuit, erimus, quandoque quod hie est."
Geraldus Cambrensis was one of his pupils, and he
inspired his pupil with his own hatred of the monks.
In a manuscript of that author, preserved in the archie-
piscopal library at Lambeth, he tells us that he heard
Peter declare before his whole school, in which many
persons of distinguished literature were present, that
the old enemy, meaning the devil, never insidiously
devised a more injurious measure against the Church
of God, than the law which enjoined a vow of celibacy on
the clergy. He openly and truly censured other sins in
practice and errors in doctrine prevalent in the middle
ages. He was the author of Historiae Ecclesiasticse Lib.
XVI., containing a summary of sacred history, from the
beginning of Genesis to the end of the Acts of the
Apostles, intermixed with numerous passages fiom
profane history, and some fabulous narrations. It was
fii'st published at Reutlingen, in 1473, and afterwards
underwent repeated impressions at Strasburg, Basle,
Lyons, and other places. He also wrote. Sermons ; and
a work entitled, Catena Tempor^n:'. &c,, consisting of
an indigested compilation of universal history, published
at Lubeck in 1475, in 2 v. Is. fol. ; of which a French
translation was printed at Paris, in 1488, in 2 vois. folio,
under the title of Mer des Histoires. — Cave. Dupin.
Moreri.
68 PETIT.
PETIT, MATTHEW DIDIER.
Matthew Didier Petit was born at St. Nicholas, in
Loraine, in 1659, and was educated at the Jesuit College
at Nancy. He took the monastic habit as a Benedictine
in his seventeenth year. In 1682, he was appointed
lecturer in philosophy and Divinity, by the chapter
general of the congregation of St. Vannes and St.
Hydulphus, to which he belonged. He afterwards
presided over an academy in which certain monks of
the Benedictine order engaged, under his direction, to
read all the fathers of the Church. As is the case with
most students of the fathers, they commenced with
Dupin's ecclesiastical writers, to whom the readers of
these volumes are so much indebted. Petit-Didier wrote
notes on this celebrated work and published them under
the title of Piemarks on the first volumes of M. Dupin's
Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, in 3 vols, 8vo, the first of
which appeared in 169JI, and the third in 1696. He
afterwards published an answer to the Dialogues between
Cleander and Eudoxus, written against the celebrated
Provincial Letters of Pascal, and attributed to father
Daniel, the Jesuit. This answer is under the form of
seventeen letters, with the title of, An Apology for the
Provincial Letters of Lewis Mental te, against the last
Reply of the Jesuits, &c., IQmo. About 1700 he pub-
lished in Latin, Critical, Historical, and Chronological
Dissertations on the Sacred Scriptures of the Old Testa-
ment, in 4to. In 1715, he was chosen Abbot of Senones.
In 1724, he published A Theological Treatise in Defence
of the Authority and Infallibility of the Pope, 12mo.
This piece was attacked by different writers, Romanist
and Protestant, and defended by him in several tracts. In
1725, he visited Rome, where he was favourably received
by Benedict XIII. , on account of his writings, in which
he had maintained the infallibility and highest preten-
PEZELIUS. 69
sions of the papal see, and declared hostility against
the liberties of the Galilean Church. As a reward for
such obsequiousness, in 1726 the Pope nominated him
Bishop of Macra, in partibus infidelium. He died in
1728, and was succeeded by Calmet. He is supposed to
have been the author of an Historical and Dogmatical
Treatise on Ecclesiastical Privileges and Exemptions,
which was printed at Metz, in 1699, in 4to. — Moreri.
PEZELIUS, CHBISTOPHER.
Christopher Pezelius w^as born in the year 1539, at
Plauen, in the Voightland. He is chiefly distinguished
for the part he took with certain of the Saxon theologians
for changing the doctrine of his Church (the Lutheran) on
the subject of the Eucharist. They wished to introduce
the Calvinistic view and were called Crypto-Calvinists.
He shewed great zeal ih the cayse and composed a Cate-
chism. He was, of course, subject to prosecution, and
retired to Egra, in Bohemia, and afterwards became
principal of a seminary at Siegen, and finally Pastor of
Herbon. How long he retained that situation we are
not informed, but we find that he was professor of
divinity at Bremen, in the year 1588, and was also
superintendent of the Churches in that district. These
posts he held till his death in 1604, when he was about
65 years of age. He was the author of Commentarium
in Genesin, 1599, 8vo; Enarratio priorum Capitum
Evangelii Johannis, 1586, 8vo; Compendium Theo-
logise ; Epitomen Philosophise Moralis ; Mellificium
Historicum, forming a large commentary on Sleidan's
treatise De quatuor monarchiis, 1610, 4to, in two parts,
to which a third was afterwards added by Lampidus ;
Consilia et Judicia Theol. Philippi Melanchthonis,
consisting of extracts from Melanchthon's works, with
objections and answers on subjects of a theological
70 PFAFF.
nature, the whole intermixed with Schoha, and extend-
ing to seven or eight octavo vokimes ; besides a multi-
tude of controversial pieces. — Bayle. Mureri.
PFAFF, CHRISTOPHER MATTHEW.
Christopher Matthew Pfaff was born at Stuttgard, in
1G86, and was educated at Tubingen, where his father,
John Christopher Pfaff, author of a dissertation De
AUegatis Veteris Testamenti, was Divinity professor.
In early life he travelled at the expense of the Duke of
Wurtemberg, and, among other places, visited the Uni-
versity of Oxford.
In 1717, he was appointed Professor of Divinity at
Tubingen, being the colleague of his father, w'hom he
succeeded as Dean of the Church. Afterw^ards he be-
came chancellor, and first professor of Divinity in the
university ; and the emperor made him a count-palatine,
and gave him the extraordinary power of creating doctors
of Divinity. In 1727, he was nominated Abbot of
Laureac; and in 1731 he was appointed a member of
the Royal Academy at Berlin.
He published, Dissertatio critica de genuinis Librorum
Novi Testamenti Lectionibus, ope Canonum quorundam
feliciter indagandis; ubi et inter alia de Joannis Millii
Collectione variarum Novi Testamenti Lectionum modeste
disseritur, 1709, 8vo ; Firmiani Lactantii Epitome In-
stitutionum divinarum, &c., anonymi Historia de Hseresi
Manichaeorum, &c., ex Codicib. Taurinens, 1713, 8vo ;
Sancti Irenaei Episcopi Lugdunensis, Fragmenta Anec-
dota, ex Biblioth. Taurin. eruta, Latina Versione et Notis
illustrata, &c., 1715, Svo ; Primitise Tubigenses ; Insti-
tutiones Theologiae dograaticae et moralis ; Introductio
in Historiam Theologiae literariam, 1718, 4to, and after-
wards greatly enlarged ; Syntagma Dissertationum
Theologicarum, 1720, Svo; Institutiones Historiae
PFEIFFER, AUGUSTUS. 71
Ecclesiasticse, cum Dissert, de Liturgiis, 17'21, 8vo ;
Notse Exegeticae in Evangelium Matthsei, 1721, 4to ;
Historia Formulae Consensus Helveticae, 1722, 4to ;
Collectio Scriptorum Irenicorum de Unione inter
Protestantes faciendum ; Ecclesiae Evangelicae Libri
Symboli, cum variantibus Lectionibus et Notis, 1730,
8vo; numerous critical remarks and observations in the
edition of the German Bible printed at Tubingen in
1729; Dissertationes anti-Bselianse tres ; and various
other controversial treatises. He died in 1760. — Moreri.
PFEIFFEK, AUGUSTUS.
Augustus Pfeiffee was born in 1640, at Lauenburg, in
Lower Saxony. He received his primary education at
Lauenburg, and thence proceeded to Hamburg and
Wittemberg. At the latter place, in 1668, he was
appointed professor of oriental languages. After pas-
sing through various preferments, he was, in 1690,
elected superintendent of the Churches in the district
©f Lubeck ; which station he held till his death, in 1698.
He was the author of a variety of works, in sacred criti-
cism and Jewish antiquities, the principal of which are,
Critica Sacra, de sacri Codicis Partitione, Editionibus
variis Linguis orientalibus, Puritate Fontium, Interpre-
tatione sacrse Scripturse legitima, Translationibus, Masora,
Cabala, &c. ; Tres Dissertationes de Targumim, sive
Paraphrasibus Chaldaicis Vet. Test, de Massora, sive
Critica Sacra Hebraeorum, de Trihseresio Judaeorum,
sive de Pharisaeis, Sadducaeis, et Essaeis, &c. ; Sciagraphia
Systematis Antiquitatum Hebraicarum, Lib. VIII. ;
Thesaurus Hermeneuticus, seu de legitima Scripturae
Sacrae Interpretatione Tractatio ; Decades duae selectae
Positionum philologicarum de antiquis Judaeorum
Ritibus et Moribus; Dubia vexata sacrae Scripturae
sive Loca difficiliora Veteris Tcstamenti succincte decisa
72 PHILOSTORGIUS.
quatuor Centuriis ; Commentarius in Obadiam, praeter
genuini Sensus Evolutionem et Collationem, exhibens
Versionem Latinam et Exaraen Commentarii Don. Isaaci
Abrabarnelis, &c. ; Praelectiones in Jonae Propbetiam
recognitae et in justum Commentarium redactse. Several
of the preceding articles were afterwards collected to-
gether, and published in 1704, in 2 vols, 4to. — Moreri.
Le Long.
PFLUG, JULIUS.
Julius Pflug was born about the year 1490, but the
place of his birth is unknown. He was Bishop of
Naumberg in the Palatinate. He is chiefly distin-
guished for being one of the three divines employed
by Charles V. in drawing up the famous project of the
Interim. He presided as his representative in the Diets
of the empire at Ratisbon. He died in 1564. He was
the author of Institutio Christiana Ecclesise Numbur-
gensis ; De Reipublicse Institutione ad Principes et
Populum Germanise ; De Institutione Hominis Chris-
tiani ; De Justicia et Salute Christiani Hominis ; De
vero Dei cultu ; De Creatione Mundi ; and several
doctrinal and controversial treatises in Latin and
German. — Moreri.
PHILOSTORGIUS.
Of PHILOSTORGIUS, Mr. Dowling, in his introduction to
the critical study of ecclesiastical history, writes thus : —
Though the Arian controversy was terminated in the
east by the end of the fourth century, it was but natural
that some of the zealous adherents of the sects which
had so long distracted Christendom, should give expres-
sion to the sentiments of vexation and disappointment
with which they regarded the triumph of their orthodox
PHILOTHEUS. 73
opponents. Among the writers whose zeal thus prevailed
over their prudence was Philostorgius, who appears to
have been the first to discover the value of Ecclesiastical
History as a controversial weapon, and to employ it in
a regular and systematic attack on the doctrines of the
Church. He was a native of Cappadocia, and was born
in 368. He entertained the opinions of Eunomius, and
regarded the Semi-Arians with no less hostility than the
friends of Athanasius. He began his work with the rise
of Arianism, in the beginning of the fourth century, and
brought it down to the year 425. It no longer exists
entire. But the very copious extracts, which we owe to
Photius, though they give us no adequate notion of
what it was as a whole, nor enable us to judge for our-
selves of its literary merits, amply confirm his remark'
that it " is less a history than an encomium upon the
heretics, and a mere accusation and vituperation of the
orthodox." Great, however, as are the prejudices of
Philostorgius, it is highly satisfactory to have the Arian
view of the great events of this period ; and the remains
of his work, whatever may have been its actual merit,
are of no inconsiderable value for illustrating the history
of the fourth century.
PHILOTHEUS.
Phtlotheus was a native of Greece in the fourteenth
century, and lived as a monk, first at Mount Sinai, and
afterwards at Mount Athol. Of the last named monastery
he became abbot. He was consecrated Archbishop of
Heraclea, and in 1355 was appointed Patriarch of Con-
stantinople. He died about 1371. He was the author
of Ordo sacri Ministerii, published in Greek and Latin,
by James Gear, in his Ritulale Grsecor., and inserted in
the xxvith vol. of the Bibl. Patr. ; De Praeceptis Domini
Capitula XXI., edited in Greek and Latin, by Peter
Ponssines, in his Thesaur. Ascet. ; Sermo encomiasticus
VOL. VIII. H
74 PHILPOT.
in tres Hierarcbas, Basilium, Gregorium Theologum, et
Joannem Chn-sostomum, published in Greek and Latin,
by James Pontanus, together with the Dioptra of Phibp
the Solitary, and inserted in the second yob of Fronton
du Due's Auctuar. Patr. ; two Orations, one, De Cruce,
and the other, In tertiam Jejuniorum Dominicam, edited
in Greek and Latin by Gesner, in the second vob of his
treatise De Cruce. — Biofj. Universelle.
PHILPOT, JOHN.
John Philpot was born in 1511, at Compton, in Hamp-
shire, and was educated at the two St. Mary Winton
Colleges of William of W3dveham. He was admitted
fellow of New^ College in 1534, and in 1541 he forfeited
liis fellowship " because of absence, being then on his
travels." Italy was the country into which he travelled,
and he dwelt principally at Rome. When Philpot
returned to England, he gave unequivocal evidence that
liis religious views were totally different from those in
which he had been nurtured. This change had begun
to work for several years before he travelled to Italy :
it was matured and deepened by his residence in that
country, and its plain fruits appeared, when, upon his
return, he read lectures upon St. Paul's Epistle to tlie
Iiomans in the Cathedral of Winchester, "which, though
gratis," says Anthony Wood, " were not acceptable to
tho Cathedral clergy or the citizens of that place."
'J'here is no record to fix the period at which ho entered
into holy orders ; it is pretty clear that he had not taken
that step before he went abroad ; and it is probable that
he did not long defer it after his return, because he
seems to have come back with all his doubts removed,
and his mind finally made up as to the principles which
he would advocate.
The advancement of Philpot to the Archdeaconry of
PHILPOT. - 75
Winchester took place in the reign of Edward the Sixth ;
but the precise time cannot be ascertained. His prede-
cessor was William Bolen, who had succeeded to the
office in 1528, upon the resignation of Richard Pates,
who became Bishop of Worcester, Bolen held the
office of Archdeacon for twenty years ; a duration which
was in affecting contrast to the brief and suffering space
permitted to his successor. It appears that Bishop
Gardiner had nominated him, prospectively, to the office
of Archdeacon ; a promise which we might be inclined
to suppose had been given many years before ; since it
^vould appear improbable that that prelate would have
shewn any favour to him after his principles had become
so changed as they w^ere on his return from Italy. But
however this may be, the nomination which Gardiner
had given him, it was left to his successor to make good.
If Gardiner had been mistaken in his man, not so
Bishop Ponet, who found inPhilpotall he desired. But
the Archdeaconry was not to be a resting-place for his
feet. A misunderstanding arose between him and the
Bishop, through the malicious interference of one of that
prelate's officials. Let Strype tell the story of this
quarrel: "There was," writes that historian, "in the
latter end of King Edward, an unhappy difference
started between Ponet, the learned Bishop of Winton,
and Philpot; fomented and devised by Cook the register, a
man that hated pure religion, He informed the said
Bishop, whether true or false I know not, that there was
a yearly pension due to him from the Archdeacon, This
was causing contention amongst them, hence intolerable
troubles arose, and slanders in that diocese to them both ;
while so good a Bishop, at the setting on of so rank a
knave, could find in his heart to vex his brother, so con-
spicuous both for learning and for life. Another instance
of Cook's malice towards the Archdeacon was this : Cook,
having married a lady, rode with more men than the
Archdeacon himself; and taking this opportunity of
76 PHILPOT.
number of attendance, once forestalled the way between
Winchester and Mr. Philpot's sister's house, about three
miles from the said citj, whither he was going; and,
lying in wait for him, set his men upon him and sore
beat him, overdone by number ; for otherwise the Arch-
deacon had as lusty a courage to defend himself, as in
disputation against Popish prelates to impugn their
doctrine. But though he was thus beaten, hurt and
wounded, yet remedy could he have none in the spiritual
court, the Bishop, as well as this his register, being in
contest with him."
In the year 1553, Mary ascended the throne, and the
convocation met on the tenth of October.
When the business of the convocation commenced,
(either on the 16th or 18th of October, 1553) two ques-
tions were first proposed for consideration, the forty-two
Articles, and the Book of Common Prayer : and with
the former question was associated the Catechism which
had been published a short time before King Edward s
death. On Friday the 20th of October, Weston the
prolocutor, presented to the house two bills, which had
ah'eady obtained his own signature ; in the one of
which, treating of the Catechism, that formulary was
described as " pestiferous and full of heresies," as
having been " foisted upon the last synod fraudulently,
and therefore that the present synod disowned it." It
was for his firm refusal to sign the document which
branded a Catechism that had both truth and synodal
authority on its side, quite as much as for his resistance
to transubstantiation and the mass, that Philpot, at the
close of this convocation, was visited with the penalties
which lighted on his head.
He was apprehended and, after various Examinations
before Bonner and a rigorous imprisonment of eighteen
months, was condemned to be burnt in Smithfield.
We have his own account of his Examinations, and it is
one of the most interesting documents of Antiquity throw-
PHILPOT. 77
ing much light on the manners of the times. Philpot's
ready wit and learning are very remarkable, though his
temper was evidently too disputatious. His opponents
seem to have reiterated the same arguments and asser-
tions and do not appear to advantage. But it is
evident that though they had determined to burn him
if he did not recant ; they all of them wished to save
him. Bonner, on one occasion said to him, " I per-
ceive you are learned : I would have such as you be
about me. But you must come and be of the Church ;
for there is but one Church." Philpot replied, " God
forbid I should be out of the Church ! I am sure
I am within the same ; for I know, as I am taught
by the Scripture, that there is but one catholic Church,
one dove, one spouse, one beloved congregation, out of
the w'hich there is no salvation,"
it appears that he did not carry the notion of the royal
supremacy to an extreme, from the following colloquy
between him and Dr. Cook. Being asked by Mr.
Cholmley, " Will you not agree that the queens
majesty may cause you to be examined of your faith ?"
Philpot answered, " Ask you of master doctor Cook,
and he will tell you that the temporal magistrates have
nothing to do with matters of faith, for determination
thereof. And St. Ambrose saith, that the things of God
are not subject to the power and authority of princes."
Cook exclaimed, " No ! may not the temporal power
commit you to be examined of your faith to the bishop !"
Philpot rejoined, " Yea, sir, I deny not that. But you
will not grant, that the same may examine any of their
own authority."
Again, Bonner asking him why he had not replied to
the queen's commissioners, Philpot replied, " For that
they were temporal men, and ought not to be judges
in spiritual causes, whereof they demanded me, without
shewing any authority whereby I was bound to answer
them; and hereupon they committed me to your prison."
H 3
78 PHILPOT.
The following conversation is of mucli interest : —
Bonner, — " Is there any more Churches than one
Catholic Church? And. I pray you, tell me into what
faith you were bajDtized ?"
Philpot, — " I acknowledge One Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church, whereof I am a member (I praise
God,) and am of that catholic Church of Christ where-
unto I was baptized."
Coventry, — " I pray you, can you tell what this word
' catholic' doth signify? shew, if you can."
Philpot, — "Yes, that I can, I thank God. The
catholic faith, or the catholic Church, is not as now a
days the people be taught, to be that w'hich is most
universal, or of most part of men received, whereby
you do infer our faith to hang upon the multitude,
which is not so ; but I esteem the catholic Church to
be as St. Augustine defineth the same: 'We judge,'
saith he, ' the catholic faith, of that which hath been,
is, and shall be.' So that, if you can be able to
prove that your Faith and Church hath been from the
beginning taught, and is, and shall be, then you
may count yourselves Catholic : otherwise not. And
catholic is a Greek word, compounded of Kara, which
signifieth after, or according, and oAov, a sum, or
principal, or whole. So that catholic Church, or catho-
lic Faith, is as much to say, as the first, whole,
sound, or chiefest faith."
Bonner, — " Doth St. Augustine say so as he allegeth
it? or doth he mean as he taketh the same? How say
you, master Curtop ?"
Curtop, — " Indeed, my lord, St. Augustine hath such
a saying, speaking against the Donatists, that the
catholic faith ought to be esteemed of things in time
past, and as they are practised according to the same,
and ought to be through all ages ; and not after a new
manner, as the Donatists began to profess."
. Philpot, — " You have said well, master Curtop, and
PHILPOT. 79
after the meaning of St. Augustine, and to confirm that
which I had said for the signification of catholic."
Coventry, — " Let the book be seen, my lord."
Bonner, — " I pray you, my lord, be content, or in
good faith I will break even off, and let all alone. Do
you think the catholic Church (until it was within these
few years, in the which a few upon singularity have
swerved from the same) have erred ?"
Philpot, — " I do not think that the catholic Church
can err in doctrine ; but I require you to prove this
Church of Rome to be the Catholic Church."
Curtop, — " I can prove that Irenpeus (which was
within a hundred years after Christ) came to Victor,
when Bishop of Rome, to ask his advice about the
excommunication of certain heretics ; the which he
would not have done (by all likelihood) if he had not
taken him to be supreme head."
Coventry, — " Mark well this argument. How are you
able to answer the same? Answer, if you can."
Philpot, — " It is soon answered, my lord, for that it
is of no force ; neither this fact of Irenseus maketh no
more for the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome than
mine hath done, which have been at Rome as well as
he, and might have spoken with the pope, if I had list :
and yet I would none in England did favour his supre-
macy more than I."
St. Asaph, — " You are the more to blame, by the faith
of my body, for that you favour the same no better, since
all the catholic Church (until these few years) have taken
him to be the supreme head of the Church, besides this
good man Irenaeus."
Philpot, — " That is not likely, that Irenseus so took
him, or the priaiitive Church : for I am able to shew
seven general councils after Irenaeus's time, wherein he
was never so taken ; which may be a sufi&cient proof,
that the catholic primitive Church never took him for
supreme head."
80 PHILPOT.
The other Bishop, — " This man will never be satisfied
say what we can. It is but folly to reason any more with
him."
Philpot, — " Oh, my lords, would you have me satisfied
with nothing ? Judge, I pray you, who of us hath better
authority, he which bringeth the example of one man
going to Rome, or I that by these many general councils
am able to prove, that he was never so taken in many
hundred years after Christ, as by the Nicene, the first
and second Ephesine, the Chalcedonian, the Constan-
tinopolitan, the Carthaginian, and that at Aquileia."
Coventry, — " Why will you not admit the Church of
Rome to be the catholic Church ?"
Philpot, — " Because it followeth not the primitive
catholic Church, neither agreeth with the same, no more
than an apple is like a nut."
Coventry, — " Wherein doth it dissent ?"
Philpot, — " It were too long to recite all ; but two
things I will name, the supremacy and transubstantia-
tion."
Curtop, — " As for transubstantiation, albeit it was set
forth and decreed for an article of faith not much above
three hundred years, yet it was always believed in the
Church."
Bonner, — " Yea, that was very well said of you, master
Curtop."
Philpot, — " Ye have said right, that transubstantia-
tion is but a late plantation of the Bishop of Rome ;
and you are not able to shew any ancient writer, that
the primitive Church did believe any such thing."
And with this Curtop shrank away. And immediately
after the ambassador of Spain came in, to whom my
Lord of London went, leaving the other with me.
On the Eucharist we may quote the following passage :
Philpot, — " My Lord of London may be soon answered,
that the saying of St. John is, that the humanity of
Christ, which He took upon Him for the redemption of
PHILPOT. 81
man, is the bread of life, whereby our bodies and souls
be sustained to eternal life, of which the sacramental
bread is a lively representation and an effectual coapta-
tion to all such as believe on His passion. And as
Christ saith in the same sixth of John, ' I am the bread
that came down from heaven ;' but He is not material
natural bread neither; likewise the bread is His flesh,
not natural or substantial, but by signification, and by
grace in the Sacrament.
'* And now to my Lord Riche's argument. I do not
deny the express words of Christ in the Sacrament.
'This is My body,' but I deny that they are naturally
and corporally to be taken : they must be taken sacra-
mentally and spiritually, according to the express decla-
ration of Christ, saying that the words of the sacrament
which the Capernaites took carnally, as the Papists now
do, ought to be taken spiritually and not carnally, as they
falsely imagine, not weighing what interpretation Christ
hath made in this behalf, neither following the institution
of Christ, neither the use of the apostles and of the
primitive Church, who never taught neither declared any
such carnal manner of presence as is now exacted of us
violently, without any ground of Scripture or antiquity,
who used to put out of the Church all such as did not
receive the sacrament with the rest, and also to burn
that which was left after the receiving, as by the canon
of the apostles, and by the decree of the Council of
Antioch may appear."
And, again, another passage may be quoted to the
same effect : — Chedsey, — " Why, then you would not
have it to be the body of Christ, unless it be received ?"
Philpot, — " No, verily, it is not the very body of Christ
to any other, but such as condignly receive the same after
His institution."
London, — " Is not a loaf a loaf, being set on the
table, though no body eat thereof?"
Philpot,—" It is not like, my lord : for a loaf is a loaf
82 PHILPOT.
before it be set on the table ; but so is not the sacrament
a perfect sacrament, before it be duly administered at the
table of the Lord."
London, — " I pray you, what is it in the mean while,
before it is received?"
Philpot, — " It is, my lord, the sign begun of a holy
thing, and yet no perfect sacrament until it be received.
For in the sacrament there be two things to be considered,
the sign, and the thing itself, which is Christ and His
whole passion ; and it is that to none but to such as
worthily receive the holy signs of bread and wine, accord-
ing to Christ's institution."
Windsor, — " There were never any that denied the
words of Christ, as you do. Did not He say, ' This is
My Body ?' "
Philpot, — " My lord, I pray you, be not deceived.
We do not deny the words of Christ : but we say, these
words be of none effect, being spoken otherwise than
Christ did institute them in His Last Supper, For an
example : Christ biddeth the Church ' to baptize in the
Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost :' if a priest say these words over the water, and
there be no child to be baptized, these words only pro-
nounced do not make baptism. And again, baptism
is only baptism to such as be baptized, and to none
other standing by."
Chamberlain, — " I pray you, my lord, let me ask him
one question. What kind of presence in the sacrament
(duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance) do you
allow r
Philpot, — " If any come worthily to receive, then do
I confess the presence of Christ wholly to be, with all
the fruits of His passion, unto the said worthy receiver,
by the Spirit of God, and that Christ is thereby joined
to him and he to Christ."
Chamberlain, — " I am answered,"
London, — " My lords, take no heed of him, for he
PHILPOT. SS
goeth about to deceive you. His similitude, that lie
bringeth in, of baptism is nothing like the sacrament
of the altar. For if I should say to Sir John Bridges,
being with me at supper, and having a fat capon, ' Take,
eat, this is a fat capon,' although he eat not thereof, is
it not a capon still? And likewise of a piece of beef,
or of a cup of wine ; if I say, ' Drink, this is a cup of
wine,' is it not so, because he drinketh not thereof?"
Philpot, — "My lord, your similitudes be too gross for
so high mysteries as we have in hand, as, if I were your
equal, I could more plainly declare ; and there is much
more dissimilitude between common meats and drinks,
than there is between Baptism and the Sacrament of
the Body and Blood of Christ. Like must be compared
to like, and spiritual things with spiritual, and not
spiritual things with corporal things. And meats and
drinks be of their own natures good or evil ; and your
words, commenchng or discommending, do but declare
what they are. But the sacraments be to be considered
according to the word which Christ spake of them ; of
the which, ' Take ye, and eat ye,' be some of the chief,
concurrent to the making of the same, without the
which there can be no sacraments. And therefore in
Greek the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is
called KOLvcovia, i.e. communion; and likewise in the Gos-
pel Christ commanded, saying, ' Divide it among you,'"
The following is the account given us of his death :
" Upon Tuesday, at supper, being the 7th of December,
there came a messenger from the sheriffs, and bade mas-
ter Philpot make him ready, for the next day he should
suffer, and be burned at a stake vrith fire. Master
Philpot answered and said, ' I am ready : God grant
me strength, and a joyful resurrection?' And so he
went into his chamber, and poured out his spirit unto
the Lord God, giving Him most hearty thanks, that
He of His mercy had made him worthy to suffer for
His truth.
84 PHILPOT.
" In the morning the sheriffs came, according to the
order, about eight of the clock, and called for him, and
he most joyfully came down to them. And there his
man did meet him, and said, 'Ah! dear master, farewell.'
His master said unto him, ' Serve God, and He will
help thee.' And so he went with the sheriffs to the
place of execution ; and when he was entering into
Smith field, the way was foul, and two officers took him
up to bear him to the stake. Then he said merrily,
'What! will ye make me a pope? I am content to
go to my journey's end on foot.' But first coming into
Smithfield, he kneeled down there, saying these words,
' I will pay my vows in thee, 0 Smithfield ! '
"And when be was come to the place of suffering,
he kissed the stake, and said, ' Shall I disdain to
suffer at this stake, seeing my Redeemer did not re-
fuse to suffer a most vile death upon the cross for me ?'
And then with an obedient heart full meekly he said
the 106th, the 107th, and the 108th Psalms. And
when he had made an end of all his prayers, he said
to the officers, 'What have you done for me?' — and
every one of them declared what they had done ; and
he gave to every of them money,
" Then they bound him to the stake, and set fire unto
that constant martyr, who on the 18th day of December,
in the midst of the fiery flames, yielded his soul into
the hands of Almighty God, and full like a lamb gave
up his breath, his body being consumed into ashes.
" Thus hast thou, gentle reader, the life and doings
of this learned and w^orthy soldier of the Lord, John
Philpot, with all his examinations that came to our
hand, first penned and written with his own hand, being
marvellously preserved from the sight and hand of his
enemies ; who by all manner of means sought not only
to stop him from all writing, but also to spoil and deprive
him of that which he had written ; for the which cause
he was many times stripped and searched in the prison
PHOTIUS. 85
of his keeper: but yet so happily these his writings
were conveyed and hid in places about him, or else his
keeper's eyes so blinded, that, notwithstanding all this
malicious purpose of the bishops, they are yet remaining
and come to light."
He wrote : — Epistolae Hebraicse ; De Proprietate Lin-
guarum ; An Apology for Spitting upon an Arian, with
an invective against the Arians ; Supplication to King
Philip and Queen Mary; Letters to Lady Vane ; Letters
to the Christian Congregation, that they abstain from
Mass ; Exhortation to his Sister ; and. Oration. These
are all printed by Fox, except the last, which is in the
Bodleian Library. He also wrote : — Translations of
Calvin's Homilies ; Chrysostom against Heresies ; and
Coelius Secundus Curio's Defence of the old and ancient
Authority of Christ's Church ; and, Vera Expositio Dis-
putationis institutae mandato D. Mariae Reginae Ang.
&c. in Synodo Ecclesiastico, Londini, in comitiis regni
ad 18 Oct., anno 1553 ; printed in Latin at Rome, 1554,
and in English at Basle. — Examination and Writings of
Archdeacon Philpot, by the Parker Society.
PHOTIUS.
Photius, a man of most profound and universal erudition,
and of ambition equally great, was born of a Patrician
family at Constantinople, where he received his educa-
tion. He flourished in the ninth century. Devoting
himself in early life to the service of the state, and
supported by the wealth and interest of his family,
after passing through some inferior situations, and be-
coming captain of the guards, he was appointed secretary
of state, under the Emperor Michael III. He now
found a patron in the Csesar Bardas, the emperor's
uncle. Through the influence of Bardas, Ignatius the
Patriarch of Constantinople, having been degraded from
VOL. VIII. [
86 PHOTIUS.
his dignity on a charge of treason and sent into exile,
Photius, though a layman, was appointed his successor.
In the space of six days, Photius was ordained deacon
and priest, and on Christmas day, 858, he was conse-
crated by Gregory, Bishop of Syracuse, though that
prelate had been deposed by the Pope of Rome, so far
as the Pope of Rome had power to depose him.
The jealousy between the Greek Church and the
Latin Church was now at its height, and the imperti-
nent claims of the Pope of Rome, and the ambition
of the Romish court, w^ould have rendered a good under-
standing between the two Churches impracticable ; but
the first open rupture was that which was occasioned
by the consecration and subsequent transactions of Pho-
tius. His ordination ^Yas hasty, his rise irregular, and
his abdicated predecessor was supported by public com-
passion and the obstinacy of his adherents. Although
Ignatius was as strongly opposed as Photius to the lofty
pretensions of the Pope of Rome, yet the adherents of
the former, in the madness of party zeal, appealed to
Nicholas L, one of the proudest and most aspiring of
the Roman Pontiffs. He at once availed himself of the
welcome opportunity of judging and condemning his
rival in the East. Photius, however, knew his own
position, and determined to maintain it, and so far was
he from caring for the excommunication of the Bishop
of Rome, that he returned the compliment, and in a
Council assembled at Constantinople, in the year 866,
he declared Nicholas unworthy both of the place he held
in the Church, and also of being admitted to the com-
munion of Christians.
The Roman pontiff alleged a specious pretext for his
appearing in this matter with such violence, and exciting
such unhappy commotions in the Church. This pretext
was the innocence of Ignatius. This, however, was but
a mere pretext ; ambition and interest were the true,
though secret springs, that directed the motions of
PHOTIUS. 87
Nicholas, who would have borne with patience, nay,
beheld with indifference the unjust sufferings of Ignatius,
could he but have recovered from the Greeks the pro-
vinces of lUyricum, Macedonia, Epirus, Achaia, Thessalj,
and Sicily, which the emperor and Photius had removed
from the jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff. Before he
engaged in the cause of Ignatius, he sent a solemn
embassy to Constantinople, to demand the restitution
of these provinces; but his demand was rejected with
contempt. And hence, under pretence of avenging the
injuries committed against Ignatius, he indulged without
restraint his own private resentment, and thus covered
with the mask of justice the fury of disappointed ambi-
tion and avarice.
While things were in this troubled state, and the
flame of controversy was growing more violent from day
to day, Basil, the Macedonian, who, by the murder of
his predecessor, had paved his way to the imperial
throne, calmed at once these tumults, and restored peace
to the Church, by recalling Ignatius from exile to the
high station from which he had been degraded, and by
confining Photius in a monastery. This imperial act
of authority was solemnly approved and confirmed by a
council assembled at Constantinople, in the year 869,
in which the legates of the Roman Pontiff, Adrian II.,
had great influence, and were treated with the highest
marks of distinction. The Latins acknowledge this
assembly as the eighth mcumenical council, and in it the
religious contests between them and the Greeks were
concluded, or at least hushed and suspended. But the
controversy concerning the authority of the Roman Pon-
tiffs, the Hmits of their ghostly empire, and particularly
their jurisdiction in Bulgaria, still subsisted; nor could
all the efforts of Papal ambition engage either Ignatius
or the emperor to give up Bulgaria, or any other pro-
vince to the See of Rome.
The contest that had arisen between the Greeks and
88 PHOTIUS.
Latins concerning the elevation of Photius, was of such
a nature as to admit of an eas_y and effectual remedy.
But the haughty and ambitious spirit of this learned
and ingenious patriarch fed the flame of discord instead
of extinguishing it, and unhappily perpetuated the
troubles and divisions of the Christian Church. In the
year 866, he added to the See of Constantinople the
province of Bulgaria, with which the Pontiff Nicholas
had formed the design of augmenting his own spiritual
dominions, and was most bitterly provoked at missing
his aim. Photius went yet further, and entered into
measures every way unworthy of his character and sta-
tion ; for he not only sent a circular letter to the oriental
patriarchs to engage them to espouse his private cause,
as the public and momentous cause of the Church, but
drew up a most violent charge of heresy against the
Roman Bishops, who had been sent among the new
converted Bulgarians, and against the Church of Rome
in general. The articles of corrupt doctrine, or heresy,
which this imperious and exasperated prelate brought
against the Romans, were as follows : — First, That they
fasted on the Sabbath, or seventh day of the week.
Secondly, That in the first week of Lent they permitted
the use of milk and cheese. Thirdly, That they pro-
hibited their clergy to marry, and separated from their
wives such as were married, when they went into orders.
Fourthly, That they maintained that the bishops alone
were authorized to anoint with the holy chrism baptized
persons, and that they, of consequence, who had been
anointed by presbyters, were obliged to receive that
unction a second time from the hand of a bishop.
Lastly, That they had adulterated the symbol or creed
of Constantinople, by adding to it the words Jilloque,
i. e. and from the Son, and were therefore of opinion that
the Holy Spirit did not proceed from the Father only,
but also from the Son. Nicholas L, finding the Romish
Church thus attacked, sent the articles of this accusation
PHOTIUS. 69
to Hincmar, and the other Galilean Bishops in the year
867, desiring them to assemble their respective suffra-
gans in order to examine and answer the reproach of
Photius. Pursuant to this exhortation of the pontiff,
Odo, ^neas, and Ado, Bishops of Beauvais, Paris, and
Vienne, as also the celebrated Ratramn, stept forth
gallantly into the field of controversy against the Greeks,
answered one by one the accusations of Photius, and
employed the whole force of their erudition and zeal
in maintaining the cause of the Latin Churches.
Upon the death of Ignatius, which happened in the
year 878, the emperor took Photius into favour, and
placed him again at the head of the Greek Church in
the patriarchal dignity from whence he had fallen. This
restoration of the degraded patriarch was agreed to by
the Pioman Pontiff John VIII., upon condition, however,
that Photius would permit the Bulgarians to come under
the jurisdiction of the See of Rome. The latter pro-
mised to satisfy in this the demands of the pontiff, to
which the emperor also seemed to consent; and hence
it was that John VIII. sent legates to the council whicli
was held at Constantinople, a. d. 879, by whom he
declared his approbation of the acts of that assembly,
and acknowledged Photius as his brother in Christ.
The promises, however, of the emperor and the patri-
arch, were far from being accomplished ; for after this
council, the former, most probably by the advice, or at
least with the consent of the latter, refused to transfer
the province of Bulgaria to the Ptoman Pontiff; and
it must be confessed that this refusal was founded upon
most weighty and important reasons. The Pontiff,
notwithstanding, was highly irritated at this disappoint-
ment, and sent Marinus to Constantinople in the cliar-
acter of legate, to declare that he had changed his mind
concerning Photius, and that he entirely approved of the
sentence of excommunication that had been formerly
given against him. The legate, upon delivering this
90 PHOTIUS.
disagreeable message, was cast into prison by the em-
peror, but was afterwards set free; and being raised
to the pontificate upon the death of John VIII., recalled
the remembrance of this injurious treatment, and levelled
a new sentence of condemnation against Photius.
This sentence was treated with contempt by the
haughty patriarch : but about six years after this period,
he experienced anew the fragility of sublunary grandeur
and elevation, by a fall which concluded his prosperous
days. For in the year 886, Leo, surnamed the Philoso-
pher, the son and successor of Basil, deposed him from
the patriarchal see, and confined him in an Armenian
monastery, where he died in the year 891. The death
of Photius, who was tVie author of the schisms that
divided the Greeks and Latins, might have been an
occasion of removing these unhappy contests, and of
restoring peace and concord in the Church, if the Roman
Pontiffs had not been regardless of the demands of
equity as well as of the duty of Christian moderation.
But these imperious lords of the Church indulged their
vindictive zeal beyond all measure, and would be satis-
fied with nothing less than the degradation of all the
priests and bishops, who had been ordained by Photius.
The Greeks, on the other hand, were shocked at the
arrogance of these unjust pretensions, and would not
submit to them on any conditions. Hence a spirit of
resentment and irritation renewed the spirit of dispute,
w^hich had been happily declining ; religious as well
as civil contests, were again set on foot ; new contro-
versies were added to the old, until the fatal schism
-took i^lace, which produced a lasting and total separation
between the Greek and Latin Church.
Whatever may have been the merits or the demerits
of Photius in his public capacity, learning is under great
obligations to him. His work, entitled, Myriobiblon,
is a kind of abstract and critical judgment of 279
different writers in the departments of history, oratory,
PHOTIUS. 91
grammar, philosophy, theology, &g., of many of whom
no other memorial exists. Fabricius (Biblioth. Grseca,
V. 35) gives an accurate list of the works noticed by
Photius. Another of his works is entitled, Nomocanon,
being a collection of the canons of the councils, and
canonical epistles, and the imperial laws concerning
ecclesiastical matters. His Myriobiblon, or Bibliotheca,
was first printed by Hoschelius in 1601 ; the best edition
is that of Piouen, Gr. et Lat. fol. 1653. Imm. Bekker
published the Greek text, corrected after a Venetian
and three Paris MSS., with an index, Berlin, 1824,
2 vols. 4 to. His Nomocanon was printed with the
Commentaries of Balsamon at Paris, Gr. et Lat. 4to,
1615. There are also 253 Letters of Photius, which
were published in 1651, fob, with a Latin version and
notes, by Puchard Mountagu, Bishop of Norwich, from
a MS. in the Bodleian Library. There are other small
pieces of Photius that have been printed, and not a
few still extant in manuscript only. The most remark-
able is a very considerable fragment of a Greek lexicon
in which the greater part of the alphabet is complete.
The various MSS. of this Lexicon, in different libraries
on the continent, are mere transcripts from each other,
and originally from one, venerable for its antiquity,
which was formerly in the possession of the celebrated
Thomas Gale, and which is now deposited in the library
of Trinity College, Cambridge. A copy of this Lexicon,
at Florence, was transcribed about the end of the six-
teenth century, by Richard Thompson, of Oxford. Per-
son had transcribed and corrected this Lexicon for the
press ; and, after his transcript had been consumed
by fire, he began the task afresh, and such were his
incredible industry and patience, that he completed
another copy, which was printed in 1822, 2 vols. 8vo,
London, under the superintendence of Dobree. An
edition of this Lexicon was also published at Leipsic,
in 1808, by Godfrey Hermann, from two MSS., both
92 PILKINGTON.
of them very inaccurate. Photius also wrote a Treatise,
Adversus Latinos de Processione Spiritus Sancti, and
other theological and controversial works, several of
which are still unpublished ; among others, one against
the Paulicians, of which Montfaucon gives some frag-
ments in his Bibliotheca Cosliniana; and, Amphilochia,
being Answers to Questions relative to various Passages
in the Scriptures, with an Exposition of the Epistles
of St. Paul. — Mosheim. Dupin.
PIOTET, BENEDICT.
Benedict Pictet was born at Geneva, in 1655. In his
youth he travelled, but having returned to his native
town, he became in 1680, minister of the Church of
St. Gervas, and in 1686, professor of Divinity. One
of the most extroardinary events connected with his
history is that in 1706, the Society for propagating the
Gospel in Foreign Parts admitted him as one of its
members.
He died in 17*24. He was of a mild and tolerant
disposition, and a father to the poor.
His principal works are : — Theologia Christiana, 3
vols, 4to; the best edition of which is that of 1721 ;
Christian Morality, or The Art of Living Well, 8 vols,
12mo; The History of the Twelfth and Thirteenth
Centuries, intended as a continuation of that of Le
Sueur ; but the supplementary work is more esteemed
than the original ; and, A Treatise against Indifference
in Religion. — Moreri.
PILKINGTON, JAMES.
James Pilkington was born in 1520, at Rivington, in
Lancashire. At an early period he was sent to Cam-
PILKINGTON. 93
bridge, and became a member of St. John's College, of
which college he became master in 1558. He was very
active in encouraging the Study of Greek in the university.
By King Edward VI. he was presented to the Vicarage
of Kendal in Westmoreland. At the Visitation of Cam-
bridge held by the royal commissioners in 1549, the
subject of Transubstantiation was discussed, and it was
"learnedly determined" by Ridley, Bishop of Rochester,
and one of the visitors. Alban Langdale, a papist,
attacked this determination, and Pilkington published
a book in which he shewed how Ridley's determination
at that time gave great satisfaction to the students.
Where, giving account of this matter, he writes, that
Dr. Ridley, Bishop of Rochester, came in visitation to
Cambridge, and because the doctrine of the sacrament
seemed then strange to many, he propounded this
proposition at that time to the whole university to dis-
pute upon, That it could not be proved by any ancient
writer, Greek or Latin, which lived a thousand years
since, or within five hundred years after Christ, that
the substance of the bread was changed in the sacra-
ment to the substance of Christ's Body. Disputation
being ended, the bishop made all things so clear in his
determination, that they were so convinced, that some
of them would have turned Archbishop Cranmer's book
of that subject into Latin, &c.
During the Marian persecution he left the country,
and went first to Zurich, and afterwards to Basle. On
the death of Mary, we find his name the first attached
to a document of great moderation, written by the
English divines at Frankfort, in answer to a violent
letter from the exiles who were at Geneva. This docu-
ment was dated on the 3rd of Januay, 1559, and imputed
" That it would not be in either of their hands to
appoint what ceremonies should be, but in such men's
wisdoms as should be appointed to the devising of the
same; and which should be received by common consent
94 PILKINGTON.
of parliament : and therefore it would be to small pur-
pose to contend about them. Wherefore as they, [viz.
of the Church at Frankfort,] trusting they should not
be burdened with unprofitable ceremonies, purposed to
submit themselves to such orders as should be estab-
lished by authority, (not being of themselves wicked,)
so they would wish them [of Geneva] to do the same.
And that whereas all reformed Churches differed among
themselves in divers ceremonies, and yet agreed in the
unity of doctrine they saw no inconvenience, if they
used some ceremonies diverse from them ; so that they
agreed in the chief points of their religion. Notwith-
standing, thai^ if any should be intruded that should
be offensive, they, [of Frankfort,] upon just conference
and deliberation upon the same at their meeting with
them in England, (which they trusted by God s grace
would be shortly,) would brotherly join with them, to be
suitors for the reforming and abolishing of the same."
We find Pilkington many years after when Bishop of
Durham, writing in the same tone of moderation in a
letter addressed to Eodolph Gualter. He laments the
state of the times, saying : — " But here, I pray you,
pause awhile with me, and mourn over this our Church
at this time so miserably divided, not to saj, wholly rent
in pieces. Commend her to the Lord your God, and
entreat Him that, having compassion upon us. He may
T61*y soon provide some godly remedy for the healing of
her wounds, that she may not be utterly destroyed. Your
prudence has heard, I well know, and that often enough
to weary you, of that unhappy dispute among some of
our friends respecting the affair of the habits and the
dress of the clergy, and how great a disturbance it has
excited ; but it has now so broken out afresh, nay more,
that which heretofore lurked in dissimulation has now
so openly discovered itself, that not only the habits, but
our whole ecclesiastical polity, discipline, the revenues of
the bishops, ceremonies or public forms of worship.
PILKINGTON. 05
liturgies, vocation of ministers, or the ministration of
the Sacraments, — all these things are now openly attacked
from the press, and it is contended with the greatest
bitterness, that they are not to be endured in the Church
of Christ. The doctrine alone they leave untouched ;
as to everything else, by whatever name you call it, they
are clamourous for its removal. The godly mourn, the
Papists exult, that we are now fighting against each other
who were heretofore wont to attack them with our united
forces ; the weak know not what or W'hom to believe ; the
godless are altogether insensible to any danger; the
Piomish priesthood are gaping for the prey, and are like
bellow^s carefully blowing up the flame, that the mischief
may increase. It is lamentable to behold, and dreadful
to hear of such things taking place among those who
profess the same religion ; and yet the entire blame is
laid upon the Bishops, as if they alone, if they chose,
v/ere able to eradicate all these evils. We endure, I
must confess, many things against our inclinations, and
groan under them, which if we wished ever so much, no
entreaty can remove. We are under authority, and
cannot make any innovation without the sanction of the
queen, or abrogate anything without the authority of the
laws ; and the only alternative allowed us is, whether we
will bear with these things or disturb the peace of the
Church. I wish all parties would understand and follow
your wholesome advice in your preface to the Epistle to
the Corinthians, respecting the variety of rites and dis-
cipline in individual Churches. But these men are
crying out that nothing is to be endured in the rites of
the Church, which is later than the times of the apostles,
and that all our discipline must be derived from thence,
and this at the peril of the soul and our salvation."
On the accession of Elizabeth, Pilkington returned
to England, and in February 1561, was consecrated
Bishop of Durham. In 1562, he is said to have been
queen's reader of divinity lectures. During this prelates
96 PISCATOR.
time, not only the cause of religion, but also political
matters, called the queen's attention towards Scotland,
and the borders were frequently the scene of military
operations. During these commotions, the queen having
seized the Earl of Westmoreland's estates within the
Bishopric of Durham, Pilkington instituted his suit, in
which it was determined, that " where he hath jura
regalia, he shall have forfeiture of high treason." By
an act of parliament, made in the 13th year of Elizabeth,
1570. c. 16, "The convictions, outlawries, and attain-
ders of Charles, Earl of Westmoreland, and fifty-seven
others, attainted of treason, for open rebellion in the
north parts, were confirmed ;" and it was enacted, '-That
the queen, her heirs, and successors, should have, for
that time, all the lands and goods which any of the
said persons attainted within the Bishopric of Durham
had, against the bishop and his successors, though he
claimeth jura regalia, and challengeth all the said for-
feitures in right of his church." So that the see was
deprived of the greatest acquisition it had been entitled
to for many centuries.
He wrote : — A Commentary of Aggeus (Haggai) the
Prophet, 1560, 8vo ; A Sermon on the Burning of St.
Paul's Church, in London, in 1561, 1563, 12mo; Com-
mentaries on Ecclesiastes, the Epistles of St. Peter,
and of St. Paul to the Galatians ; and, A Defence of the
English Service. After his death, his Exposition on
Nehemiah was published, 1585, 4to. He left in manu-
script Statutes for the Consistory. He died Jan. 23rd,
1575, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and was buried at
Auckland; but his remains were afterwards removed,
and interred in the choir of Durham Cathedral. — Strype.
Zurich Letters.
PISCATOR, OR FISCHER, JOHN.
John Piscator, or Fischer, was born at Strasburg, in
PLACETTE. 97
1546, and received his education in his native place, from
which he withdrew on his becoming a Calvinist, and, in
1584, he became theological Professor at Herborn, in
Welterau. He died in 1626. In his late years he
inclined to Arminianism.
Piscator made an almost entirely new translation of
the Bible, from the original languages into German,
which was published at Herborn ; and was followed, in
1608, by An Apology for that version, in 4to.
He was the author of Commentaries, in Latin, upon
all the books of the Old and New Testaments, 1601 —
1616, in 24 vols. Svo, which were collected together,
and published in 1643 — 1645, in 4 vols. fol. He was
also the author of Analysis Logica Epistolarum Pauli
ad Roman. Corinth. Galat. Ephes. &c. 1590, Svo; Index
in Libros Biblicos Veteris Testamenti, 1622, in 6 vols.
Svo ; Scripta adversaria de Causa Meritoria Justifica-
tionis, 1590, Svo; together with practical and contro-
versial treatises, &c. — Biog. Univemelle.
PLACE, JOSHUA DE LA.
Joshua de la Place was born in 1596, and educated at
Saumur, of which university he became, in 1633, theo-
logical Professor. He died in 1665.
He wrote : — An exposition of the Song of Songs ; A
Treatise on Types ; A Treatise concerning the Imputa-
tion of Adam's first Sin ; On the Order of the Divine
Decrees ; On Free-will ; A Compendium of Divinity ;
Dialogues between a Father and his Son, relative to a
Change of Religion; A Treatise concerning the Invo-
cation of Saints ; and An Examination of the Reasons
for and against the Sacrifice of the Mass, &c. A collec-
tion of all his works was published at Franeker in 1699
and 1703, in 2 vols. 4to. — Moreri.
PLACETTE, JOHN DE LA.
John de la Placette was born in 1639, at Pontac, in
VOL. VIII. K
9S POCOCK.
Beam, and was for some time a Protestant minister
in the Church of Orthes, in Beam ; he removed to Naye,
and at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes he became
minister of the parish Church at Copenhagen. In 1711,
he removed to the Hague, and afterwards to Utrecht,
where he died in 1718.
He wrote : — New Moral Essays ; A Treatise on Pride ;
A Treatise on Conscience, — this was translated into
English bv Basil Kennett, under the title of The
Christian Casuist ; A Treatise on Good Works in
general ; A Treatise on Oaths ; Various Treatises
on Matters of Conscience ; The Death of the Just, or,
the Manner of dying well ; A Treatise on Alms ; A
Treatise on Games of Chance; A Compendium of
Christian Morality ; Christian Pieflections on several
moral Subjects ; and, A Treatise on Divine Faith. —
Moreri.
POCOCK, EDWARD.
Edwaed Pocook was bom at Oxford, in 1604. He was
educated at the Free-school of Thame, ^and at Magdalen
Hall, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, of which latter
he afterwards became fellow. At the university he ap-
plied himself to the study of the Eastern languages,
which at that time were taught privately at Oxford by
Matthew Pasor. He found also another able tutor for
Eastern literature in the Rev. William Bedwell, vicar of
Tottenham, near London, whom his biographer praises
as one of the first who promoted the study of the Arabic
language in Europe. And now the statutes of the
college providing that he should speedily take orders,
he commenced the study of theology. He followed
the plan suggested by James I., who directed this study
to be pursued, not by insisting on modern compendiums
and tracts of divinity, but by applying himself chiefly
to fathers and councils, ecclesiastical historians and
POCOCK. 99
other ancient writers, together with the sacred text,
the word of God. For though he perused the books
of some late writers in divinity, it was not, we find,
to form his notions on matters of reUgion, according to
their conceptions and opinions, but to take their direc-
tion about several pieces of antiquity, in order to a
general knowledge of their nature and excellency, and
to distinguish the genuine from such as are of doubtful
original, or manifestly spurious. This, in particular, we
learn from some papers begun to be written by him,
September 7, 1629, was the use he made of a treatise
of some account, then reprinted at Oxford, namely,
Ger. Vossius's Theses Theologicse, out of which he
collected several things of this nature and of no other.
But amidst his theological studies it was impossible
for him to lay aside all regard for those Eastern lan-
guages to which his mind was so addicted, and on
which he had bestowed so much time and pains. He
therefore, about this time, pursued a design wherein
both were joined together, and that was, the fitting for
the press those parts of the Syriac version of the New
Testament, which had never yet been published. Igna-
tius, the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch, had, in the last
age, sent Moses Meridin^us, a priest of Mesopotamia,
into the west, to get that version printed, in order to the
carrying back a sufficient number of copies for the use
of his Churches. And this work, by the care and dili-
gence of Albertus Widmanstadius, was very well per-
formed at Vienna, a. d. 1555. But the Syriac New
Testament thus brought out of the East, and followed
in that impression, wanted the second epistle of St.
Peter, the second and third epistles of St. John, the
epistle of St. Jude, and the whole book of the Revela-
tion: because, as a learned man conjectures, those parts
of Holy Scripture, though extant amongst them, were
not yet received into the canon, by those Oriental
Churches. This defect no body took care to supply,
100 POCOCK.
till that very learned person Ludovicus de Bieu, on
the encouragement and with the assistance of Daniel
Heinsius, set about the Revelation ; being furnished
with a copy of it, which had been given with many
other manuscripts, to the university of Leyden by the
famous Joseph Scaliger. That Version of the Apo-
calypse was printed at Leyden in the year 1627, but
still the four Epistles were wanting, and those Pocock
undertook, being desirous that the whole New Testa-
ment might at length be published in that language,
which was the vulgar tongue of our Blessed Saviour
Himself, and His holy Apostles. A very fair manuscrij)t
for this purpose he had met with in that vast treasure of
learning the Bodleian library ; containing those epistles,
together with some other parts of the New Testament.
Out of this manuscript, following the example of de
Dieu, he transcribed those epistles in the Syriac cha-
racter ; the same he likewise set down in Hebrew letters,
adding the points, not according to the ordinary, but the
Syriac rules, as they had been delivered by those learned
Maronites, Amira and Sionita. He also made a new
translation of these epistles out of Syriac into Latin,
comparing it with that of Etzelius, and shewing upon
all considerable occasions, the reason of his dissent from
him. Moreover, he added the original Greek, concluding
the whole with a good number of learned and useful
notes.
This was published at Leyden in 1630. Meanwhile,
in December, 1629, Pocock had been ordained by Corbett,
Bishop of Oxford, and was appointed chaplain to the
English merchants at Aleppo, where he arrived in Oct.
1630, and remained for nearly six years. Being a man
of meek and humble temper, and naturally in love with
retirement and peace, he did not (as many travellers
do) carry with him a violent desire of viewing strange
countries. Nay, he was so far from being delighted either
with what he had already seen, or the place where he was
pococK. lor
now settled ; that, in a letter, written about two months
after his arrival to Mr. Thomas Greaves, a very studious
young man, then scholar of Corpus Christi, he gave but
a very melancholy account of himself. "My chief
solace," said he, " is the remembrance of my friends,
and my former happiness, when I was among them.
Happy you that enjoy those places where I so often
wish myself as I see the barbarous people of this
country. I think that he that hath once been out of
England, if he get home, will not easily be persuaded
to leave it again. There is nothing that may make a
man envy a traveller." However, being abroad, he
resolved that his natural aversion for such a kind of
life should not make him neglect the doing anything
in the post he was in, which was either his duty to
God, or might answer the expectation of good and
learned men.
Above all other things he carefully applied himself to
the business of his place as chaplain to the factory;
performing the solemn duties of religion in that decent
and orderly manner which our Church requires. He
was diligent in preaching, exhorting his countrymen
in a plain, but very convincing way, to piety, temper-
ance, justice, and love, which would both secure to them
the favour and protection of the Almighty, and also
adorn their conversation, rendering it comely in the
sight of an unbelieving nation. And what he laboured
to persuade others to he duly practised himself, pro-
posing to his hearers, in his own regular and unspotted
life, a bright example of the holiness he recommended.
As he was seldom or never drawn from the constant
performance of these duties of his charge by a curiosity
tempting him to the view of other places of that country,
so he would not omit what belonged to his office, even
when attended with a very affrightening danger. For
in the year 1034, as the plague raged furiouslj^ in
Aleppo, and many of the merchants fled two days
103 POCOCK.
journey from it, and dwelt in tents on the mountains ;
he had that holy confidence in the Providence of God,
and that readiness to meet His good pleasure, whatever it
should be, that though he visited them that were in the
country, he, for the most part, continued to assist and
comfort those who had shut up themselves in the city.
And indeed, the mercy of God (as he most thankfully
acknowledged in a letter sent a little after to a friend
in Oxford) was signally manifested, at the time, towards
him, and all our nation belonging to that factory.
For though the pestilence wasted beyond the example
of former times, not ceasing, as usually, at the entrance
of the dog-days, all the English were preserved, as well
they that continued in the town as they that fled from
it. God covered them with His protection, and was
their shield and buckler against that terrible destruc-
tion : *' A thousand fell at their side, and thousands at
their right hand, and yet it did not come nigh them."
But he knew the advantages as well as the disadvan-
tages of his position, especially as they related to bis
favourite studies. He immediately engaged a master
in the Arabic tongue, and a servant of the nation for
the purpose of familiar converse in it ; and he under-
took the translation of several Arabic books, among
which was a collection of 6000 proverbs. Having re-
ceived a commission from Dr. Laud, then Bishop of
London, for the purchase of Greek coins, and Greek
and oriental manuscripts, he employed himself in its
execution; nor amidst these literary labours did he
neglect the proper duties of his office, but discharged
them with great fidelity, even when they exposed him
to imminent danger from the plague. In 1636, being
informed by Laud of his intention of nominating him
the first professor of the Arabic lecture founded by that
munificent prelate at Oxford, he returned to occupy a
place so conformable to his wishes. To this, after taking
the degree of B.D., he was formally appointed in August,
POCOCK. 103
and he opened his lectures with an eloquent Latin
oration on the nature and use of the Arabic tongue.
The solicitations and generous offers of his friend Mr.
John Greaves to procure him as a companion -in a
journey into the east, induced him, however, after obtain-
ing leave of absence, to embark with that learned mathe-
matician, in 1637, for Constantinople. During his stay
in that city he employed himself in perfecting his know-
ledge of the oriental tongues, and in purchasing manu-
scripts for Archbishop Laud, and he also ojB&ciated as chap-
lain to the English ambassador. In 1640, he set out on
his return, and passing through Paris, had an interview
with the illustrious Grotius, who was much gratified on
being consulted by him on an Arabic translation of his
noted book De Veritate Christiange Religionis. While
at Paris, and on the road, he heard of the commotions
in England, and on his arrival he found his liberal
patron, Laud, a prisoner in the Tower. Here he imme-
diately visited the archbishop, and their interview was
affecting on both sides. Pocock then went to Oxford,
where he found that the archbishop had settled the
Arabic professorship in perpetuity by a grant of lands.
He now resumed his lecture and his private studies.
In 1641 he became acquainted with Selden, who was at
this time preparing for the press some part of Euty-
chius's Annals, in Latin and Arabic, which he published
the year following, under the title of Origines Alexan-
drinae ; and Pocock assisted him in collating and extract-
ing from the Arabic MSS. at Oxford.
In 1643, he was presented by his college to the living
of Childry, in Berkshire ; and he set himself with his
utmost diligence, to a conscentious performance of all the
duties of his cure ; labouring for the edification of those
committed to his charge, with the zeal and application of a
man, who thoroughly considered the value of immortal
souls, and the account he was to give. He was constant
in preaching, performing that work twice every Lord's
104 POCOCK.
Day. And because the addition of catechizing, which
he would not neglect, made this a burthen too heavy
to be always borne by himself, he sometimes procured
an assistant from Oxford, to preach in the afternoon.
His sermons were so contrived by him, as to be most
useful to the persons that were to hear them. For
though such as he preached in the University were very
elaborate, and full of critical and other learning ; the
discourses he delivered in his parish, were plain and
easy, having nothing in them, which he perceived to
be above the capacities, even of the meanest of his
auditors. He commonly began with an explanation of
the text he made choice of, rendering the sense of it as
obvious and intelligible, as might be : then he noted
whatever was contained in it relating to a good life ;
and recommended it to his hearers, with a great force
of spiritual arguments, and all the motives, which ap-
peared most likely to prevail with them. And as he
carefully avoided the shew and ostentation of learning ;
so he would not, by any means, indulge himself in the
practice of those arts, which at that time were very
common, and much admired by ordinary people. Such
were distortions of the countenance and strange gestures,
a violent and unnatural way of speaking, and affected
words and phrases, which being out of the ordinary way,
were therefore supposed to express somewhat very
mysterious, and, in a high degree, spiritual. Though no
body could be more unwilling than he was to make
people uneasy, if it was possible for him to avoid it ;
yet neither did his natural temper prevail with him,
nor any other consideration tempt him, to be silent,
where reproof was necessary. With a courage, there-
fore, becoming an ambassador of Jesus Christ, he
boldly declared against the sins of the times ; warning
those w^ho were under his care, as against all profane
and immoral practices, so against those schisms and
divisions, which were now breaking in upon the Church,
POCOCK. 105
and those seditions which aimed at the subversion of
the state. His whole conversation too was one con-
tinued sermon, powerfully recommending, to all that
were acquainted with him, the several duties of Chris-
tianity. For as he was " blameless and harmless, and
without rebuke ; " so his unaffected piety, his meekness
and humility, his kind and obliging behaviour, and great
readiness, upon every occasion, to do all the good he was
capable of, made him shine as " a light in the world."
A minister that thus acquitted himself, one would
think, should have met with much esteem, and all
imaginable good usage from his whole parish ; but the
matter was otherwise ; he was one of those excellent
persons, whom the brightest virtue has not been able
to secure from an evil treatment ; yea, that upon ac-
count, even of what was highly valuable in them, have
been contemned, reproached, and injuriously handled.
Some few, indeed, of those under his care, had a just
sense of his worth, and paid him all the respect that
was due to it ; but the behaviour of the greater number
was such, as could not but often much discompose and
afflict him. His care not to amuse his hearers, with
things which they could not understand, gave some of
them occasion to entertain very contemptible thoughts
of his learning, and to speak of him accordingly. So
that one of his Oxford friends, as he travelled through
Childry, inquiring, for his diversion, of some people,
who was their minister, and how they liked him,
received from them this answer : " Our parson is one
Mr. Pocock, a plain, honest man ; but master," said
they, "he is no Latiner." His avoiding, as he preached,
that boisterous action, and those canting expressions,
which were then so very taking with many lovers of
novelty, was the reason that not a few considered him
as a weak man, whose discourses could not edify, being
dead morality, having nothing of power and the spirit :
but his declaring against divisions, sedition, and rebel-
106 POCOCK.
lion, was most offensive, and raised the greatest clamour
against him. Because of this, such in his parish, as
had been seduced into the measures of them who were
now endeavouring the overthrow both of Church and
state, were ready, upon every occasion, to bestow on him
the ill names then so much in use, of, " a man addicted
to railing and bitterness ; a malignant and one Popishly
affected." But disesteem and reproachful language were
not the only grievances which this good man suffered
under. That income, which the laws of God and man
had made his just right, and which he alwa^-s endea-
voured to receive with as much peace as might be, was
thought too much for him, and they studied to lessen it
in all the ways they could : besides what they called out-
witting him in his tithes, of the contributions and great
taxes which were frequently exacted, a sum much beyond
the just proportion was still allotted to him ; and when
any forces were quartered in that parish, as considerable
numbers often were, he was sure to have a double, if not
a greater, share.
This usage could not but seem very strange to a man,
who had been treated with respect and civility, by all sorts
of persons whom he had hitherto conversed with ; and it*
was impossible for him to reflect upon such unsuitable
returns, without a great deal of disquiet, and very melan-
choly thoughts. The barbarous people of Syria and
Turkey, whom he formerly complained of, appeared to
him now of much greater humanity than many of those
he was engaged to live with. There his exalted virtue
had won upon Mahometans, and had made even Jew's
and Friars revere him ; but these charms had, at this time,
a contrary effect on the pretenders to saintship and purer
ordinances at home. And he, who, when at Aleppo,
still longed to be in England, as the most agreeable
place in the world, now considered an abode in the East
as a very desirable blessing. Yea, to such a degree of
uneasiness did the, public calamities, and the particular
POCOCK. 107
troubles he was every day exercised with, at length carry
him, that he began to form a design of leaving his native
country for ever, and spending the remainder of his days
either at Alej)po or Constantinople : in which places,
from his former experience, he thought he might promise
himself fewer injuries, and more quiet and peace. But
upon further consideration, and a due use of those
succours which both reason and religion afforded him, he
fortified his mind against the force of all such trials, and
learned " to possess his soul in patience." He very well
knew,' that it is the part of " a good soldier of Jesus Christ,
to endure hardship," and that he that has devoted him-
self to the work of the Gospel, must be ready in " afflictions
and distresses, by honour and dishonour, by evil report
as well as good, to approve himself a minister of God."
He considered too, that his case was not singular, but
such as was common, at that time, to almost all others
of the same calling, throughout the nation, who would
not humour the people in unreasonable things, nor
descend to unlawful compliances. And he was very
well satisfied, that all the evil that comes to pass in the
world, is still overruled by the Providence of that all-
wise God, who, in the moral as well as the natural world,
brings light out of darkness, and order out of confusion
and who will make " all things work together for good to
them that love Him." Upon such reflections as these,
therefore, he resolved to stand his ground, and to per-
severe in a faithful discharge of all the duties he was
called to, notwithstanding all the difficulties that attended
it. Having thus laid aside all thoughts of a remove, to
ease himself of the cares of housekeeping, and the manage-
ment of a family, and to have the comfort of an agreeable
partner, amidst the troubles he was exposed to, he
began to think of a wife. And Providence directed
him to the choice of a very prudent and virtuous gentle-
woman, namely, Mary, the daughter of Thomas Burdett,
Esq., of West Worlham, in Hampshire, whom he mar-
108 POCOCK.
ried about the beginning of the year 1646, and by whom
God was pleased to bless him with nine children, six
sons and three daughters.
Immediately after the execution of Archbishop Laud,
the profits of Pocock's professorship were seized by the
sequestrators, as part of that prelate's estate. But in
1647, the salary of the lecture was restored by the inter-
position of Selden, who had considerable interest with
the usurpers. In 1648, on the reccommendation of Dr.
Sheldon and Dr. Hammond, Pocock was nominated
Hebrew professor, with the canonry of Christ Church
annexed, by Charles I., then a prisoner in the Isle of
Wight. In 1649, he published his Specimen Histories
Arabum. This consists of extracts from the work of
Abulfaragius, in the original Arabic, together with a
Latin version and copious notes. In November, 1650,
he was ejected from his canonry of Christ Church, for
refusing to take the Engagement, and soon after a vote
passed for depriving him of the Hebrew and Arabic
lectures ; but upon a petition from the heads of houses
at Oxford, the masters, scholars, &c., two only of the
whole number of subscribers being loyalists, this vote
was reversed, and he was suffered to enjoy both
places.
In 1655, a more ridiculous instance of persecution was
intended, and would have been inflicted, if there had
not yet been some sense and spirit left, even among
those who had contributed to bring on such calamities.
It appears that some of his parishioners had presented
an information against him to the commissioners ap-
pointed by Parliament, " for ejecting ignorant, scanda-
lous, insufficient, and negligent ministers." But the
connexion of the name of Pocock with such epithets
was too gross to be endured, and, we are told, filled
several men of great fame and eminence at that time at
Oxford with indignation : in consequence of which they
resolved to wait upon the commissioners, and expostulate
POCOCK. 109
with them about it. In the number of those who went
were, Dr. Seth Ward, Dr. John Wilkins, Dr. John
WalUs, and Dr. Owen, who all laboured with much
earnestness to convince those men of the absurdity of
their proceedings ; particularly Dr. Owen, who endea-
voured, with some warmth, to make them sensible of
the contempt that would fall upon them, when it should
be said, that they had turned out a man for insufficiency,
whom all the learned, not of England only, but of all
Europe, so justly admired for his vast knowledge and
extraordinary accomplishments. The commissioners
being very much mortified at the remonstrances of so
many eminent men, especially of Dr. Owen, in whom
they had a particular confidence, thought it best to extri-
cate themselves from their dilemma by discharging
Pocock from any further attendance. In the same year
he published his Porta Mosis, being six prefatory dis-
courses of Moses Maimonides's Commentary upon the
Mishna, which in the original were Arabic, expressed in
Hebrew characters, together with his own Latin trans-
lation of them, and a very large appendix of miscella-
neous notes. In 1657, Walton's celebrated Polyglott
appeared, in which Pocock had a considerable share.
He collated the Arabic Pentateuch, and drew up a
Preface concerning the Arabic Versions of that part of
the Bible, and the reason of the various readings in
them. He contributed the loan of some valuable MSS.
from his own collection, viz. — The Gospels in Persian,
his Syriac MS. of the whole Old Testament, and two
other Syriac MSS., together with an Ethiopic MS. of
the Psalms. In 1668, his translation of the Annals of
Eutychius, from Arabic into Latin, was published at
Oxford, in 2 vols, 4to. This was undertaken by Pocock
at the request of Selden, who bore the whole expense
of the printing, although he died before it appeared.
Selden, in a codicil to his will, bequeathed the property
of the Annales Eutychii to Langdaine and Pocock.
VOL. VIII. L
110 POCOCK.
Immediately after the Restoration, Pocock was (June,
1660) replaced in his Canonry of Christ Church, as
originally annexed to the Hebrew professorship by
Charles I., and on September 20th, took his degree
of D.D. In the same year, he was enabled, by the
liberality of Mr. Boyle, to print his Arabic translation
of Grotius on the Truth of the Christian Religion. His
next publication, in 1661, was an Arabic Poem, entitled
Lamiato'l Ajam, or Carmen Abu Ismaelis Tograi, with
his Latin translation of it, and large notes upon it, with
a preface by Dr. Samuel Clarke, architypographus to
the university, who had the care of the press, and con-
tributed a treatise of his own on the Arabic prosody.
Pocock's design in this work was, not only to give a
specimen of Arabian poetry, but also to make an attain-
ment of the Arabic tongue more easy to those who
study it; and his notes, containing a grammatical
explanation of all the words of this author, were un-
questionably serviceable for promoting the knowledge of
that language. In 1663, he published, at Oxford, his
most useful work, the w^hole of Abulfaragius's Historia
Dynastiarum, 2 vols, 4to. In 1677, he published his
Commentary on the Prophecy of Micah and Malachi ;
in 1685, on that of Hosea; and in 1691, on that of
Joel, in 1674, he had published, at the expense of
the university, his Arabic translation of the Church
Catechism and the Liturgy, i. e. The Morning and
Evening Prayers, The Order of Administering Baptism
and the Lord's Supper, and, The Thirty-nine Articles.
He died on the 10th September, 1691, after a gradual
decay of some months, in his eighty-seventh year.
Of this great man, Dr. Twells remarks, " that all his
words and actions carried in them a deep and unfeigned
sense of religion and true piety ; God was the beginning
and the end of his studies and undertakings ; to His
glory they were devoted, and professedly finished by
His help, as appears by expressions, sometimes in
POCOCK. ill
Arabic and Hebrew, and at other times in English,
whi^h we find not only in his printed works, but also
in his note-books, and writings of any account.
"In his public duties of religion he was very punc-
' tual ; all the time he resided at Christ Church, which
was more than thirty years, hs was seldom absent from
cathedral prayers, oft frequenting them, when he was
not thought well enough to go abroad upon any otlier
occasion.
" In his pastoral capacity, so long as he resided con-
stantly at Childry, he shewed the greatest diligence and
faithfulness, preaching twice every Lord's Day, and
catechizing likewise, when the length of days would
permit him. Nor was he less exact in discharging the
private duties of his function, such as visiting sick and
ancient people, and the like ; and during that part of
his life in which his attendance upon his professorships
and canonical residence called him to Oxford for the
greatest part of the year, he took a most conscientious
care to supply his absence by an able curate, of whom
he strictly required the same laborious course of duty,
and for his encouragement, allowed him fifty pounds
per annum, besides surplice fees, all which amounted
to more than a fourth part of the then value of that
rectory.
" As a member and a minister of the Church of Eng-
land, though with all due charity to those, who, on the
score of conscience, dissented from her, he steadily con-
formed to her appointments, highly reverenced and ap-
proved every part of her constitution. In subscribing
to her articles his hand and heart went together, being
an enemy to all prevarication, however coloured or pal-
liated by subtle distinctions. He seemed from his
youth to have imbibed, among other eminent divines
of those times, an opinion of the illegality of usury,
or at least to have entertained scruples about its lawful-
ness ; but this appeared rather from his constant prac-
in POLE.
tice of lending money freely, than from any open avowal
of his sentiments in that point : his friends could never
get from him his reasons against usury, and the cause
of his reservedness was, that the thing being allowed
by our laws, and not disapproved by the Church, he
would disturb neither by his private opinion. How
many uncharitable disputes would be prevented, if every
Christian was endued with this laudable moderation !
But so long as it is fashionable to have no concern
for the peace of the Church, nor reverence for authority,
controversies about religion will increase till, without
some gracious interposition of Providence, they eat out
out the vitals of it.
" It would be endless to enumerate all the virtues
of this excellent man, or to be particular about the
constancy and frequency of his devotions, with his family,
and in his closet ; his strict manner of observing pub-
lic fasts, his undissembled grief at hearing God's name
profaned, or the Lord's Day unhallowed, or the recital
of any gross immorality : but above all, his charity
under each branch of it, giving and forgiving, was most
exemplary.
"The largeness of a family was, in his judgment,
no excuse for scanty alms-giving : but besides the poor
whom he daily relieved at his door, he gave to others
quarterly allowances. His charitable disposition was
so notorious, and brought such numbers of necessitous
objects to him, that Dean Fell, himself a most muni-
ficent person, used complainingly to tell Dr. Pocock,
that he drew all the poor of Oxford into the college."
— Life by Twells.
POLE, REGINALD.
Reginald Pole was born in 1500, at Stoverton, or
Stourton Castle, in Staffordshire. He was cousin to
POLE. 113
ttenvy VII., his mother being the daughter of the
"false, fleeting, perjured Clarence," brother of Edward
IV., who had married Richard de la Pole, Lord Monta-
cute. He was educated first by the Carthusians of Shene,
near Pdchmond, in Surrey, where there was a grammar
school. He staid there five years ; and then entered
as a nobleman in Magdalen College, Oxford, w^iere an
apartment was assigned him in the president's lodg-
ings. Thomas Linacre and William Latimer were
his tutors. Few things could prove the necessity of
a Reformation in the Church more than the fact that,
when he was only seventeen years of age, being a
layman, he was nominated by the king, Prebendary
of Roscombe, in the Cathedral of Salisbury; and held
with that stall the Prebend of Yatminster Secunda,
in the same church. Soon after, he had the Deanery
of Wimburne Minster, together with the Deanery of
Exeter, conferred upon him. He had graduated in
1615, but he was not in holy orders, nor had even
received the first tonsure, till the very day on which
he was appointed a cardinal by the pope.
In 1519, the youthful dean visited the University
of Padua; which, according to Erasmus, was, at that
time, the Athens of Europe. On his return to England,
in 1526, he was received at court with every demon-
stration of esteem and favour by Henry VIII. and Queen
Catherine. This princess had felt all the horrors of
the bloody policy by which the death of the Earl of
Warwick was made a necessary stipulation to her mar-
riage, and had often signified her forebodings of the
vengeance which w^ould wait on it. It was apprehended
that the title of the House of York might one day
revive in this young prince; and Henry VII. and
Ferdinand had got rid of those fears, by an expedient
suited to both their characters; and, by adding the
mockery of justice to murder, had, on a pretended
conspiracy, taken aw^ay the life a Prince, whose only
L 3
114 POLE.
guilt was his relation to the crown. The queen had
already done everything in her power to atone for the
sin, and repair the injury of so foul a deed. The Coun-
tess of Salisbury, mother to Reginald Pole, being sister
to the unfortunate victim of her father's jealousy, she
committed the care of the Princess Mary's education
to her; treated her and and all her children with
remarkable affection ; and was accustomed to say, her
mind would never be at ease, unless the crown reverted
again to the Earl of Warwick's family, by a marriage
of one of his sister's sons to her daughter ; and thus
some reparation made for the injustice done to the
brother : and amongst all that lady's numerous off-
spring, she had ever shewn a predilection to Reginald.
But, notwithstanding the advantages of such a position,
and the sunshine of royal favour which encompassed
him, he resolved to withdraw from it. The court
was become a scene of intrigue, to which his breast
was a stranger. He was a constant witness to the
wanderings of a prince, to whom he had the highest
obligations, and whom he loved with all the sincerity
of a loyal and thankful heart: nor would his integ-
rity allow him to interest himself less in the case
and honour of the Queen, who was now treated with
coldness and disregard. However,* that this retreat
might not give offence, or draw on him his displeasure,
he alleged a desire of prosecuting his studies, where
he should meet with fewer avocations ; and obtained
his majesty's consent to go to the Carthusians at
Shene, where he had passed several years of his
youth, and where there was a very handsome house,
and every thing fitted to his purpose within the inclo-
sure of tbat monastery.
The question of the king's divorce, of which an
account is given in the Life of Cranmer, soon after
arose, and Pole sympathizing with Catherine of Aragon,
and naturally wishing to be out of the way, made
POLE. 1]5
his desire of completing his theological sudies, a plea
for his going to Paris, where he remained till October,
1530.
But change of place, did not save him from respon-
sibility and trouble. The agents of Henry VIII. who
had determined to consult the universities of Europe,
respecting the divorce, arrived at Paris, and Pole was
solicited to concur with them in procuring the decision
of the University of Paris in the king's favour. As this
opinion was contrary to Pole's sentiments, he was thrown
into a perplexity, from which he endeavoured to extricate
himself by pleading his unfitness for such a business ;
but he could not thereby escape the king's displeasure.
After his return, therefore, he thought it advisable again
to retire to Shene, where he spent two years more, un-
molested, But Henry's impatience under the delays
he met with respecting the divorce having brought
him to the final resolution of throwing himself upon
the support of his own subjects, it became a step of
importance to gain over a person of Pole's rank and
reputation. Both hopes and menaces were therefore
employed to shake him, and he was persuaded to wait
upon the king in order to give him all the satisfaction
in his power. Conscience, however, prevented him from
concurring in the arguments for the divorce ; and though
he was dismissed with tokens of regard, yet he thought
it prudent again to withdraw to the continent. He took
up his abode successively at Avignon, Padua, and
Venice, applying assiduously to the study of divinity,
and cultivating friendships with the most eminent char-
acters for learning and piety.
In the meantime Henry had proceeded to extremities
in his favourite plans. He had divorced Catharine,
married Anne Boleyn, and retaliated the hostility of
the Roman See, by declaring himself head of the Eng-
lish Church. He procured a book to be written in
defence of this title, by Dr. Sampson, Bishop of Chi-
116 POLE.
Chester, which he caused to be transmitted to Pole,
perhaps hoping that he might be convinced by its argu-
ments. This, however, was so far from taking place,
that Pole, now thoroughly imbued with the maxims of
Rome, forgot all the moderation of his character, and
drew up a Treatise, " De Unitate Ecclesiastica," in
which he used very harsh language both to Sampson
and the king, comparing the latter to Nebuchadnezzar,
and even exciting the emperor to revenge the injury
offered to his aunt. He sent his work to Henry, who
could not fail to be much displeased with its contents,
as were indeed some of the writer's friends in England.
Henry dissembled his resentment, and invited Pole to
come over in order to explain some passages in his
Treatise for his satisfaction ; but his kinsman was too
wary to expose himself to the fate of More and Fisher.
The king now kept no measures with him, but with-
drew his pension, alienated his preferments, and caused
a bill of attainder to be passed against him. But Pole
had now a new sovereign. By Paul III. he was nomi-
nated a cardinal, and, according to Mr. Hallam, he
became an active instrument of the pope in fomenting
rebellion in England. At his own solicitation he was
appointed Legate to the Low Countries, in 1537, with
the sole object of keeping alive the flame of the Northern
Rebellion, and exciting foreign powers as well as the
English nation to restore Popery by force, if not to
dethrone Henry. It is difficult, says the historian,
not to suspect that he was influenced by ambitious
views in a proceeding so treasonable and so little in
accordance with his polished manners and temperate
life. Philips, his able and artful biographer, both
proves and glories in his treason.
Upon the failure of these designs, he was sent as
legate to Viterbo, where he remainded till 1543. In
that year he was appointed one of the three Papal
legates to the Council of Trent ; and when it was
POLE. 117
actually assembled, he attended upon its deliberations
as long as his health would permit. He is said to have
held the orthodox Protestant doctrine of justification
by faith ; whence he incurred some suspicion of being
too favourable to Protestantism. His friendship for
Flaminio, who was an inmate with him and died in
his house, and the lenity he shewed to some Protestants
at Viterbo, were alledged as further grounds for suspect-
ing his religion ; yet of his attachment to the interests of
the Papal See he had given such valid proofs as would
not suffer it to be doubted. He was therefore confi-
dentially employed in the political affairs of the Pioman
court during the life of Paul, and at that pontiff's death
in 1549, he was seriously thought of as his successor.
Indeed, during the cabals of the conclave, he was twice
actually nominated; and at the second time was waited
upon late at night by the cardinals to perform the cere-
mony of adoration. But his scrupulosity in objecting
to the unseasonable hour, and insisting upon a delay
till morning, gave them time to change their minds,
and he thus missed the tiara.
After this he retired to the Benedictine monastei^ at
Maguzano, in the territory of Venice, and there he re-
mained till the year 1553, when on the accession of
Mary, he was invited to return to England. He set
out in September, 1554, but being detained by contrary
winds at Calais until November, he did not cross the
water until the twenty-first of that month ; when arriving
at Dover he went thence by land to Gravesend, where
being met by the Bishop of Ely, and the Earl of Salis-
bury, who presented him with the repeal of the act of
his attainder, that had passed the day before, he went
on board a yacht, which carrying the cross, the ensign
of his legation, at her head, conveyed him to Whitehall,
where he was received with the utmost veneration by
their majesties; and after all possible honour and respect
paid to him there, he was conducted to the archbishop's
118 - POLE.
palace at Lambeth, the destined place of his residence,
which had been sumptuously fitted T;ip by the queen
for the purpose. On the 27th he went to the parlia-
ment, and made a long speech, inviting them to a
reconciliation with the See of Rome from whence,
he said, he was sent by the common pastor of Christen-
dom to reduce them, who had long strayed from the
inclosure of the Church. On the 29th, the speaker
reported to the commons the substance of this speech ;
and a message coming from the lords for a conference,
in order to prepare a supplication to be reconciled to
the See of Rome, it was consented to, and the petition
being agreed on, was reported and approved by both
houses ; so that being presented by them on their knees
to the king and queen, these made their intercession
with the cardinal, who thereupon delivered himself in
a long speech, at the end of which he granted them
absolution. This done, all went to the royal chapel,
where "Te Deum " was sung on the occasion. Thus
the pope's authority being now restored, the cardinal
two days afterwards made his public entry into London,
with all the solemnities of a legate, and presently set
about the business of reforming the Church, of what
they called heresy. How much soever he had formerly
been suspected to favour the Reformation; yet he seemed
now to be much altered, knowing that the Court of Rome
kept a jealous eye upon him in this respect. He there-
fore expressed great detestation of the Reformers, nor
did he converse much with any that had been of that
party. He came into England, much changed from
that freedom of conversation he had formerly practised.
He was reserved to all, spoke little, and put on an
Italian temper, as well as behaviour ; making Priuli and
Ormaneto, two Italians whom he brought with him, his
only confidants. In the meantime, the queen dispatched
ambassadors to Rome, to make obedience in the name
of the whole kingdom to the pope; who had already
POLE. 119
proclaimed a jubilee on that occasion. But these messen-
gers had scarcely set foot on Italian ground, when they
were informed of the death of Julius, and the election
of Marcellus his successor ; and this pontiff dying also
soon after, the queen upon the first news of it, recom-
mended her kinsman to the popedom, as every way the
fittest person for it ; and dispatches were accordingly
sent to Eome for the purpose, but they came too late,
Peter Caraffa, who took the name of Paul IV,, being
elected before their arrival.
This pope who had never liked the cardinal, was better
pleased with Gardiner, the Bishop of Winchester, whose
temper exactly tallied with his own. In this disposition
he favoured Gardiner's views upon the See of Canterbury.
Xor was Pole's nomination to that dignity confirmed by
the pope, until after the death of this rival. The queen
however, confiding in Pole for the management and
regulation of ecclesiastical affairs, granted him a licence
to hold a Synod on the second of November, 1554. In
this convention, the legate proposed the next year a
book he had prepared, containing such regulations as he
judged might be the best means of extirpating heresy ;
these w^ere passed in the form of twelve decrees, and they
are so many proofs of his good temper, which disposed
him not to set the clergy upon persecuting the Protes-
tants, but rather to reform themselves, and seek to reclaim
others by a good example, as the surest method to bring
back the stragglers into the fold. How unsuitably to the
temper of these decrees, he was prevailed upon to act in
many instances afterwards, is well known. The same
thing is confessed also by Burnet, who, moreover,
plainly suggests his belief of the report, that Cran-
mer's execution was of Pole's procuring. It is, indeed,
something remarkable, that though the cardinal had
his conge d'elire, as well as two bulls dispatched
from Eome, for the Archbishop of Canterbury, some
months before Cranmers's death: and deferred his
120 POLE.
consecration thereto, apparently because he thought
it indecent while Cranmer lived ; yet he chose to
have it done the very next day after the prelate's
execution ; when it was performed by the Bishops of
London, Ely, Lincoln, Rochester, and St. Asaph, in the
Church of the Gray Friars at Greenwich. On the 28th,
he went in state to Bow Church, where the Bishops of
Worcester and Ely, after the former had said mass, put
the pall upon him. Thus invested, he went into the
pulpit, and made a sermon about the origin, use, and
matter of that vestment, and on the 31st of the same
month, he was installed by his commissary. In Novem
ber, the same year, 1656, he w^as elected chancellor of the
University of Oxford, and soon after of Cambridge ; and
in the beginning of the year following, he visited both
by his commissaries, reforming them in the sense of
those times, but not without committing some uncom-
monly inhuman persecutions.
We have already observed how unacceptable he was to
Paul IV., who now sat in the Papal chair, and the war
which England was drawn into with France, this year
by King Philip, furnished the haughty pontiff with a
pretence for gratifying his ill-will to the legate. He had
passionately espoused the quarrel of the French mon-
arch, and being inflamed to see England siding against
his friend, he resolved to revenge it on Pole. In this
spirit having declared openly that it might now be seen
how little the cardinal regarded the apostohc see, when
he suffered the queen to assist their enemies against
their friends ; he first made a decree in May, for a
general revocation of all legates and nuncios in the
King of Spain's dominions. Cardinal Pole being men-
tioned among the rest. And though he was diverted from
carrying his project into execution for the present, by
the representations of Sir Edward Carne, then the Eng-
lish ambassador at Home ; yet upon the fatal blow given
to the French at St. Quintin, and the ill success of his
POLE. 121
own forces in Italy, his wrath burst out with fresh fury,
he became utterly implacable, accused Pole as a sus-
pected heretic, summoned him to Rome to answer the
charge, and depriving him of the legatine powers, con-
ferred them upon Peyto, a Franciscan friar ; whom he
had sent for to Rome, and made a cardinal for the pur-
pose, designing him also to the See of Salisbury. This
appointment was made in September, and the new legate
was actually on the road to England, when the bulls
came to the hands of Queen Mary, who having been
informed of their contents by her ambassador, laid them
up without opening them, or acquainting her cousin
with them ; in whose behalf she wrote to the pope, and
assuming some of her father s spirit, she wrote also to
Peyto, forbidding him to proceed on his journey, and
charging him at his peril not to set foot on English
ground. But notwithstanding all her caution to conceal
the matter from the cardinal, it was not possible to keep
it long a secret, and he no sooner became acquainted
with the pope's pleasure, or rather his displeasure,
than out of that implicit veneration, which he constantly
and unalterably preserved for the See of Rome, he volun-
tarily laid down the ensigns of his legatine power, and
forbore the exercise of it ; dispatching his trusty min-
ister, Ormaneto, to Rome, with letters wherein he
cleared himself in such submissive terms, as it is said
even mollified and melted the obdurate heart of Paul.
The truth is, the pontiff was brought into a better tem-
per by some late events, which turned his regard from
the French towards the Spaniards, and the storm against
Pole blew over entirely, by a peace that was concluded
this year between the pope and Philip ; in one of the
secret articles of which, it was stipulated that the car-
dinal should be restored to his legatine powers. But he
did not live to enjoy the restoration a full twelvemonth,
being seized with a double quartan ague, which carried
him off the stage of life early in the morning of the
VIII. M
122 POLYCARP.
18th of November, 1558. His death is said to have
been hastened by that of his royal mistress and kins-
woman, Queen Mary, which happened about sixteen
hours before. — Philijjs. Dod. Biog. Brit.
POLYCARP, SAINT.
Saint Polycaep, one of the apostolical fathers and a
martyr, was born during the reign of Nero ; and, as
is generally supposed, at Smyrna, in Asia Minor. He
was a disciple of the Apostle John, by whom he was
appointed Bishop of Smyrna; and is supposed to be
the " angel of the Church of Smyrna," to whom one
of the epistles in Revelation ii., is directed to be sent.
It is also stated by some of the fathers that he was
acquainted with others of the apostles : but it is cer-
tain that he had conversed with several who had both
heard and seen the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he
was accustomed to relate the conversations which passed
between himself and them.
In the year 107, Polycarp was visited by St. Ignatius,
on his way to martyrdom ; Ignatius having been, like
Poljxarp, a disciple of St. John. Ignatius, ignorant
of any right on the part of the Roman bishop to inter-
fere in the concerns of another diocese, recommended
his own See of Antioch to the superintendence of
Polycarp, and afterwards sent an epistle to the Church
of Smyrna, from Troas, where Polycarp wrote his Epistle
to the Philippians.
Polycarp commences his epistle in the true spirit
of a martyr, by denominating '* the bonds of the
saints the diadems of such as are chosen by God
and our Lord." The presbyters he exhorts to '• ab-
stain from all anger and covetousness ; not easily
to belie%'e accusations, nor to be severe in judging,
knowing that we are aU debtors by sin.*' He then
POLYCARP. 123
enforces upon the Philippians the duty of receiving
Christ, as the propitiation for sin, and example of
hoHness.
" Let us, therefore, perpetually cleave to the hope and
pledge of our righteousness, even to Jesus Christ ; Who
His own self bare our sins in His own body on the
tree, "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His
mouth ; but endured all for us that we might live
through Him. Let us, therefore, be imitators of His
patience ; and if we suffer for His Name, we glorify
Him ; for this example he has given us by Himself,
and so have w^e believed." He afterwards offers up
this holy aspiration in their behalf; — " Now the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the ever-
lasting High Priest Himself, the Son of God, even
Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and truth, and
in all meekness and unity, in patience and long suf-
fering, in forbearance and purity; and grant unto you
a lot and portion among His saints, and to us with
you, and to all that are under the heavens, who shall
believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His Father,
who raised Him from the dead. Pray for all saints ;
pray also for kings, and all that are in authority, and
for those who persecute and hate you, and for the
enemies of the cross, that your fruit may be manifest
in all things, and that ye may be perfect in Christ."
The controversy with respect to the proper day on
which Easter should be kept, becoming warm between
the Eastern and the Western Churches, Polycarp, in
L58, travelled to Rome to confer with Anicetus the
bishop of that city. The pope was not then regarded
as the centre of unity, or the matter would have been
settled at once. Polycarp's object was to convince
Anicetus that he was in the wrong, but when he did
not succeed in this, he did i\pt for a moment defer
to the Bishop of Rome.
It is indeed sinc^ular that a circumstance of so little
124 POLYCAEP.
importance in itself should at so early a period, and
during times of persecution, have excited so much inter-
est in the Christian world. The one party were of opinion
that it should be observed like the Jewish Passover, as
a fixed feast at the full moon ; the other contended that
it should be considered as a moveable festival, and that
it should be observed on the Lord's day following. Each
party derived their own practice from apostolical tra-
dition : Anicetus, and the generality of the Western
Churches, favoured the latter practice ; Polycarp, and
the Eastern Churches, the former. It is not impro-
bable that they were both in the right as to fact ; it
being the known practice of the apostles to become
all things to all men in matters of indifference, and
to comply with the customs of every place they came
to, as far as they innocently could. Hence Polycarp
might know that St. John, out of this prudential com-
pliance, kept Easter upon one day at one place, and
Anicetus might be equally certain that St. Peter ob-
served it upon another day at another place, for the
same reason. The error then here committed was a
mistake in judgment, and not in fact, a disproportioned
and excessive zeal in a matter not worth contending
for.
But though Polycarp and Anicetus could not come to
an agreement, they agreed to differ. They received the
Holy Communion together, and Anicetus, according to
the Christian courtesy of the age, gave Polycarp prece-
dence, though in his own city, and by Polycarp the
elements were consecrated.
Whilst Polycarp continued in Rome, he became en-
gaged in a much more important controversy ; and his
labours appear to have been attended with considerable
benefit to the cause of Christianity. The heresy of
Marcion was at that ti^le prevalent in the city ; and
several persons, who had once made a profession of the
true faith, were seduced by it. In the meantime Mar-
POLYCARP. ]95
cion, in order to give weight to his sentiments, endea-
voured to insinuate into the 'minds of the people,
that there was an agreement between himself and Poly-
carp. It is not surprising that Marcion should make
such an attempt, or that Poljcarp should consider it as
his duty to use the most decisive measures to disclose
the falsehood of the heretic. Marcion meeting him one
day in the street, called out to him, " Polycarp, own us,"
" I do," replied the zealous bishop, "own thee, — to be
the first-born of Satan."
Some years after the return of Polycarp from Rome
and in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the Christians
were persecuted in all parts of the Roman empire with
unrelenting rigour. And many were called upon at
Smyrna as well as in other places to seal their profession
with their blood.
During this awful season Polycarp " in patience
possessed his soul, " neither disheartened by the fury
of his enemies, nor countenancing the fanaticism of the
times in courting the persecution of his enemies.
But the cry of the populace soon reached his ears,
"Take away the Atheists ; let Polycarp be sought for."
Three days previous to his death, Polycarp was fa-
voured with a vision whilst engaged in prayer, in which
it was figuratively represented to him that he should
be burnt alive. The place of his retreat was extorted
from a young man of his household, and his enemies
immediately afterwards entered his dwelling. As he
was, however, at that time lying down in an upper
room, connected with the flat roof of the house, he
might still have possibly escaped them. But he now
deemed it his duty no longer to avoid their scrutiny ;
thinking that he could not give a nobler testimony
to his uprightness and confidence in God, than by shew-
ing to the world that these were a sufficient security
to him in whatever dangers he might be involved. No
sooner, therefore, had he heard that his enemies were
M 3
126 POLYCARP.
at hand than he calmly exclaimed, "The will of the
Lord be done," and, ^'ith a composed countenance,
entered into their presence.
The advanced age of Polycarp, and the sanctity of
his appearance, sensibly impressed them. Some of
them even said, " Surely it is not worth while to appre-
hend so old a man ! " In the mean time, the martyr
courteously ordered refreshment to be set before them ;
and, having obtained permission to engage in prayer,
he stood in the midst of them, and prayed aloud with
remarkable fervour and devotion for two successive
hours. The spectators were astonished at the scene ;
and many of them repented that they were come to
seize so divine a character.
As soon as he had ended his devotions, in which
he had referred to the Church in general, and to various
individuals that were personally known to him, his
guards set him on an ass, and led him towards the
city. Whilst on the road, they were met by Herod,
the Irenarch, or keeper of the peace, and his father
Nicetas, who took him into their chariot, and for some
time, by promises and threatenings, endeavoured to
induce him to sacrifice to the heathen gods. Finding,
at length, that he remained unmoved, they abused the
old man, and then cast him down from the chariot
with such violence that his thigh was severely bruised
by the fall. He, however, cheerfully went on with
his guards to the stadium, as though unhurt. As he
was entering the assembly, a voice from heaven is said
to have addressed him; — "Be strong, Polycarp, and
behave yourself like a man! " None saw the speaker;
but many that were present heard the voice. When
he was brought before the tribunal, the proconsul,
struck with his appearance, earnestly exhorted him to
pity his advanced age, to swear by the fortune of Caesar,
and to say, *' Away with the Atheists," a term of re-
proach then commonly attached to the Christians. The
POLYCARP. U%
saint, with his hand directed to the multitude, and
his eyes Hfted up to heaven, with a solemn countenance,
said, *' Away with the Atheists ;" thereby intimating
his fervent desire that true religion might prosper,
and impiety be restrained. The proconsul still con-
tinued to urge him to apostatize. " Reproach Christ,"
said he, " and I will immediately release you," Fired
with a holy indignation, the aged martyr replied,
"Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He
hath never wronged me; how then can I blaspheme
my King and my Saviour ! " Being still urged to
recant, he added, " If you affect ignorance of my real
character, hear me plainly declare what I am — I am
a Christian." " I have wild beasts," said the procon-
sul, " I will expose you to them, unless you repent."
"Call them," cried the martyr. "We Christians
are determined in our minds not to change from good
to evil." "I will tame your spirit by fire," said the
other, " since you despise the wild beasts, if you will
not recant." " You threaten me with fire," answered
Polycarp, which burns for an hour ; but you are igno-
rant of the future judgment, and of the fire of
eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. — But
why do you delay? Do what you please."
Firm and intrepid he stood before the council, not
only contemning, but even desirous of death. In the
meantime the proconsul was evidently embarrassed ;
but at length he sent a herald to proclaim thrice in the
assembly, " Polycarp has professed himself a Christian."
At first the populace desired that a lion should be let
out against him ; but, as this could not then conveni-
ently be done, as the shews of wild beasts were ended,
they cried out with one voice, " Polycarp shall be burnt
alive." The sentence was executed with all possible
speed; for the people immediately gathered fuel from
the work-shops and baths, the poor infatuated Jews dis-
tinguishing themselves in this employment with pecu-
128 POLYCARP.
liar malice. In the meantime the martyr cheerfully
awaited his fate, fearing neither death, nor the horrible
form in which it was now presented to him.
Every thing being at length prepared for burning him,
the executioners were proceeding to nail him to the
stake, when he exclaimed, " Let me remain as I am,
for He Who giveth me strength to sustain the fire, will
enable me also, without being secured by nails, to re-
main unmoved by the fire." They, therefore, only bound
him.
Polycarp then offered up the following prayer : — " 0
Lord God Almighty, the Father of Thy Beloved and
Blessed Son Jesus Christ, through Whom we have
attained the knowledge of Thee ; the God of Angels
and principalities, and of every creature, and of all the
just that live in Thy sight ! I bless Thee that Thou
hast vouchsafed to bring me to this day and this hour ;
that I should have a part in the number of Thy Martyrs
in the cup of Christ, for the resurrection to eternal life
both of soul and body, in the incorruption of the Holy
Ghost; among whom may I be accepted before Thee
this day, as a sacrifice well savoured and acceptable, as
Thou, the faithful the true God, hast ordained, promised,
and art now fulfilliug. Wherefore I praise Thee for all
those things ; I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, by the eternal
High Priest, Jesus Christ, Thy Beloved Son, by Whom,
and with Whom, in the Holy Spirit, be glory to Thee
both now and for ever. Amen."
As soon as Polycarp had finished his prayer, the
executioners lighted the fire, which blazed to a great
height ; and the flame, making a kind of arch, like
the sail of a ship filled with wind, surrounded the
body of the holy martyr. One of the executioners
perceiving that his body was not burnt, plunged his
sword into it, and then cast it down into the flames,
where it was soon consumed. And now, like another
Elijah, he ascended in a chariot of fire; but not with-
POLYCRATES. 120
out having first communicated a portion of his spirit
to those around him.
This venerable saint was martyred in the year of our
Lord one hundred and sixty- seven, and about the one
hundred and twentieth year of his own age. Eleven
Christians suffered with him.
The only writing of Polycarp which we possess is the
Epistle to the Philippians mentioned above. It is one
of the writings of the apostolical Fathers translated by
Archbishop Wake, who has also translated the account
of Polycarp 's death written in the name of the Church
of Smyrna. — Eusebiiis. Irenceus. Wake. Cox.
POLYCEATES.
PoLYCEATEs flourished towards the close of the second
century. He bore a distinguished part in the contro-
versy respecting the observance of Easter, being at that
time Bishop of Ephesus. The Eastern Church main-
tained that it should be observed on the fourteenth day
after the new moon in March, on whatever day of the
week it should fall, the Western Church kept it on the
Sunday. Victor, Bishop of Eome, called upon the
Eastern Churches to conform to the rule of the Western
Church. Upon this Polycrates convened a numerous
synod of the bishops of Asia, who, after taking the lordly
requisition of Victor into consideration, determined to
adhere to their own rule. With their approbation,
Polycrates wrote to Victor, informing him of their reso-
lution. Exasperated at their answer, Victor broke off
communion with them, and excluded them from all
fellowship with the Church of Rome. The letter which
Polycrates sent to Victor is no longer extant ; but there
are two fragments of it preserved by Eusebius. — Eusebius.
Jerome.
130 PONTIUS, CONSTANTINE.
PONTIUS.
Pontius flourished about the year 250, and was probably
a native of Africa. He was deacon to St. Cyprian and
is chiefly celebrated as the author of the Life and Papers
of St. Cyprian. He is supposed to have died a martyr
in 26S.—(See St. Cyprians Works.)
PONTIUS, CONSTANTINE.
CoNSTANTiNE PoNTius was bom at St. Clement, in New
Castile, and was educated in the University of Valladolid.
His historical name, Pontius, has been curiously derived.
His real name was De la Fuente, and this we are told
became in Latin Fontius, and Fontius became Pontius.
He was Canon and Professor of Divinity at Seville. He
was preacher to Charles V., (some say his confessor) and
accompanied his son, Philip IL, to England. In Eng-
land, his mind was opened to the errors of Piomanism,
and he embraced the principles of the Reformation. On
his return to Spain he preached manfully against the
errors of Romanism, Hence he drew on himself many
attacks from the priests and monks, and the Archbishop
of Seville, president of the conclave of the Inquisition,
against which he defended himself with great skill and
address. At length they made a seizure of his books,
which he had carefully endeavoured to conceal; and
among them was found one in his own handwriting,
containing a pointed condemnation of the leading points
in the Popish creed. When this book was produced, he
undauntingly avowed it, and declared his determination
to maintain the truth of its contents, desiring them,
as they had now a full confession of his principles, to
give themselves no further trouble in procuring witnesses
against him, but to dispose of him as they pleased.
From this time he was kept in prison for two years,
POOLE. 131
under a sentence of condemnation to the flames ; but
before the day of the Auto da Fe on which it was to be
carried into execution, he died of a dysentery, occa-
sioned by the excessive heat of his place of confine-
ment, and the bad quality of his food. This event
took place in 1559. He was burnt in effigy. His
works are : — Commentaries on the Proverbs of Solomon,
on the Book of Ecclesiastes, on the Song of Songs,
and on the Book of Job, the substance of which was de-
livered in his course of theological lectures at Seville ; A
Summary of the Christian Doctrine, printed in Spanish,
at Antwerp; Six Sermons on the First Psalm, in the
same language, and published at the same place, in
1556 ; The Confession of a Sinner, marked in the
index as particularly deserving of condemnation ; and, A
Catechism at large. — Bayle. Moreri.
POOLE, MATTHEW.
Matthew Poole was born at York, in 1624, and from
the Grammar School at York, he proceeded to Emmanuel
College, Cambridge, where he embraced the doctrines
of Presbyterianism. In 1648, he was made Rector
of St. Michael le Querne, in London, where he pub-
lished a variety of controversial works, and bore a pro-
minent part in the Presbyterian movement. At the
Restoration, he was, of course, obliged to resign a living
which he never had a right to hold. Having an inde-
pendent fortune, he now determined to withdraw from
controversy in the narrow sense of the word, and he
became a student.
He commenced his celebrated book, the Synopsis Cri-
ticorum aliorumque S. Scripturse Interpretum, which
contains an abridgment of the Critici Sacri, together
with extracts from other authors, and from critical trea-
tises and pamphlets of less note, but often of conside-
132 POOLE.
rable value. A man so profitably and peaceably employed
was not only unmolested, but was patronized by perso-jis.
in power.
When the work was in a state of sufficient forward-
ness to be sent to the press, Charles II. granted him
a patent for the privilege of printing it; and in 1669,
the first two volumes were published in London, in large
folio, which were afterwards followed by three others. The
publication of this work involved Poole in a dispute with
Cornelius Bee, the publisher of the Critici Sacri, who
accused him of invading his property by printing the
Synopsis. In 1666, Poole published a treatise con-
cerning the Infallibility of the Roman Catholic Church,
entitled. The Nullity of the Romish Faith ; or a Blow
at the Romish Faith, &c. 8vo ; which was followed, in the
next year, by his Dialogues between a Popish Priest and
an English Protestant, wherein the principal Points and
Arguments of both Religions are truly proposed, and fully
examined, 8vo. He soon after retired to Holland, where
he died at Amsterdam, in October, 1679, in the fifty-sixth
year of his age.
Besides the articles already enumerated, he was the
author of: — A Letter to the Lord Charles Fleetwood, 1659,
4to, relating to the state of affairs at that period ; a short
Latin Poem, and some Epitaphs, which evince proofs of
classical taste and genius ; some Sermons, in the collection
by various Nonconformist ministers, entitled. Morning
Exercises ; some single Sermons ; a preface to a volume of
Posthumous Sermons, by Mr. Nalton, with some account
of his character ; and he left behind him, in MS., Anno-
tations on the Bible, in English, which his death prevented
him from extending further than Isaiah, Iviii. The work
was afterwards continued by other hands. These Anno-
tations were printed in London, in 1685, in two volumes
folio, and reprinted in 1700, which is usually called the
best edition, although it is far from being correct. A
second edition of the Synopsis was printed at Frankfort,
POTTER, BARNABAS. 133
in 1678, in 5 vols, fol ; and a third at Utrecht, supcrintpnded
by Leusden, in 16^6, A fourth edition was printed at
Frankfort, in 1694, in 5 vols, 4to ; and a fifth at the same
place, in 1709, in 6 vols. fol. The two last mentioned
editions have additions and improvements, criticisms
on the Apocrypha, and a defence of the compiler against
the censures of father Simon. — Wood. Calamy. Need.
Nicewn.
POTTER, BARNABAS.
Barnabas Potter was born at Kendal, in 1578, and
was educated at Queen's College, Oxford, of which
college he became a fellow. On his ordination, he
became a favourite preacher among the Puritans, and
officiated as lecturer, first at Abington, and then at
Totness, in Devonshire. In 1610, he was chosen
Principal of Edmund Hall, but resigned, and was
never admitted into that office. In 1616, on the death
of Dr. Airay, he was elected Provost of Queen's' College,
which station he retained for about ten years ; and
being then one of the king's chaplains, resigned the
provostship in favour of his nephew, the subject of
the next article. In 1628, he was nominated Bishop
of Carlisle. Wood adds, that in this promotion
he had the interest of Bishop Laud, " although a
thorough-paced Calvinist." He continued, however, a
frequent and favourite preacher ; and, says Fuller,
"was commonly called the Puritanical Bishop; and
they would say of him, in the time of King James,
that organs would blow him out of the church ; which
I do not believe ; the rather, because he was loving
of and skilled in vocal music, and could bear his own
part therein." He died in 1642, and was interred
in the Church of St. Paul, Covent Garden. Wood
mentions as his, Lectures on some Chapters of Genesis,
VOL. VIII. N
13i POTTER, CHRISTOPHEE.
but knows not whether they were printed ; and several
Sermons ; one, The Baronet's Burial, on the burial
of Sir Edmund Seymour, Oxon. 1613, 4to. ; and
another, on Easter Tuesday, one of the Spital Sermons.
— Gen. Biog. Diet.
POTTER, CHRISTOPHEE.
Christopher Potter, nephew to Barnabas Potter, was
born at Kendal, in 1591, and was educated at Queen's
College, Oxford, of which college he became chaplain
in 1613. In 1620, he succeeded Dr. Barnabas Potter
as provost.
In 1633, he published his Answer to a late Popish
Pamphlet, entitled. Charity Mistaken. The cause was
this : a Jesuit who went by the name of Edward Knott,
but whose true name was Matthias Wilson, had published,
in 1630, a little book- in 8vo, called Charity Mistaken,
with the want whereof Catholics are unjustly charged,
for affirming, as they do with grief, that Protestancy
unrepented destroys Salvation. Dr. Potter published
an answer to this at Oxford, 1633. in 8vo, with this
title, " Want of Charitie justly charged on all such
Bomanists as dare (without truth or modesty) affirme,
that Protestancie destroyeth Salvation ; or, an Answer
to a late Popish pamphlet, entitled, Charity Mistaken,"
&c. The second edition revised and enlarged, w^as
printed at London, 1634, in 8vo. Prynne observes,
that Bishop Laud, having perused the first edition,
caused some things to be omitted in the second. It is
dedicated to Charles I. ; and in the dedication Dr.
Potter observes, that it was "undertaken in obedience
to his majesty's particular commandment." In this
controversy, as is well known, the celebrated Chilling-
worth was afterwards engaged. In 1635, Dr. Potter
was promoted to the Deanery of Worcester.
POTTER, CHRISTOPHER. 135
In early life, like many of his contemporaries, Dr.
Potter had been Calvinistically inclined ; but, like Bishop
Sanderson, Archbishop Usher, and others, at a later
period of life, he saw his error, and avowed an altera-
tion in his sentiments. It was while he was Dean
of Worcester, (Dr. Wordsworth calls him Dean of
Windsor,) that he wrote the Letter to Mr. Vicars,
which was re-published at Cambridge, in 1719, in a
" Collection of Tracts concerniug Predestination and
Providence."
Having been taxed by his friend with the desertion
of his former principles, and the charge being coupled
with an insinuation, that this change was brought about
by court influence, and put on to please Archbishop
Laud, &c. *' It appears," says he, '' by the w^hole
tenour of your letter, that you are affected wdth a
strong suspicion, that I am turned Arminian; and
you further guess at the motive, that some sprinkling
of court holy water, like an exorcism hath enchanted
and conjured me into this new shape. How loth am I
to understand your meaning ! And how fain would I
put a fair interpretation upon these foul passages, if they
were capable ! What man ! not an Arminian only, but
hired into that faith by carnal hopes ! one that can
value his soul at so poor a rate, as to sell it to the times,
or weigh or sway his conscience with money ! My good
friend, how did you thus forget me, and yourself ; and
the strict charge of our Master, Judge not ? Well ;
you have my pardon : and God Almighty confirm it
unto you with His ! But to prevent you error and sin
in this kind hereafter, I desire you to believe that I
neither am, nor ever will be Arminian. I am resolved
to stand fast in that liberty, which my Lord hath so
dearly bought for me. In divine truths, my conscience
cannot serve men, or any other master besides Him
Who hath His chair in Heaven. I love Calvin very
well ; and I must tell you, I cannot hate Arminius.
136 POTTER, CHRISTOPHER.
And for my part, I am verily persuaded that these two
are now where they agree well, in the kingdom of
Heaven ; whilst some of their passionate discij)les are
so eagerly brawling here on earth. But because you are
my friend, I will yet farther reveal myself unto you. I
have laboured long and diligently in these controversies,
and I will tell you with what mind and method, and
with what success.
" For some years in my youth, when I was most igno-
rant, I was most confident : before I knew the true state,
or any grounds of those questions, I could peremptorily
resolve them all. And upon every occasion, in the very
jjulpit, I was girding and railing upon these new heretics,
the Arminians, and I could not find words enough to
decipher the folly and absurdity of their doctrine ;
especially 1 abhorred them as venomous enemies of
the grace of God, whereof I ever was, and ever will
be most jealous and tender, as I am most obliged,
holding all I am, or have, or hope for by that glorious
grace. Yet all this while, I took all this that I talked
upon trust, and knew not what they (the Arminians)
said or thought, but by relation from others, and from
their enemies. And because my conscience in secret
would often tell me, that railing would not carry it in
matters of religion, without reason and divine authority ;
that 1 might now solidly maintain God s truth, as it be-
comes a minister, out of God's word, and clearly vindi-
cate it from wicked exceptions ; and that I might not
only revile and scratch the adversary, but beat, and
wound him, and fight it out, fortibiis armis, non solum
fulgentibiis, I betook myself seriously and earnestly to
peruse the w^ritings of both parties ; and to observe and
balance the Scriptures produced for both parties. But
my aim in this inquiry was not to inform myself whether
1 held the truth, (for therein I was extremely confident,
presuming it was with US, and reading the opposers with
prejudice and detestation,) but the better to fortify our
tenets against their cavils and subtilties.
POTTER, CHRISTOPHER. 137
** In the meanwhile, knowing that all light and
illumination in divine mysteries, descends from above
from the Father and Fountain of all light, without Whose
influence and instruction all our studies are most vain
and frivolous ; I resolved constantly and daily to solicit
my gracious God, with most ardent supplications, as I
shall still continue, that He would be pleased to keep
His poor servant in His true faith and fear ; that He
would preserve me from all false and dangerous errors,
how specious or plausible soever; that He would fill my
heart with true holiness and humility ; empty it of all
pride, vain-glory, curiosity, ambition, and all other carnal
conceits and affections, which usually blind and pervert
the judgment; that he would give me the grace to
renounce and deny my foolish reason in those holy
studies, and teach me absolutely to captive my thoughts
to the obedience of His Heavenly word ; finally, that he
would not permit me to speak or think any thing, but
what were consonant to His Scriptures, honourable and
glorious to His majesty.
" I dare never look upon my books, till I have first
looked up to Heaven with these prayers. Thus I begin,
thus I continue, and thus conclude my studies. In my
search, my first and last resolution was, and is, to believe
only what the Lord tells me in His book : and, because
all men are liars, and the most of men factious, to
mark not what they say, but what they prove. Though
I must confess, T much favoured my own side, and
read what was written against it with exceeding indig-
nation; especially when I was pinched, and found
many objections to which I could find no answers.
Yet in spite of my judgment, my conscience stood as it
could ; and still multiplying my prayers, and recurring
to my oracle, I repelled such thoughts as temptations. —
Well ; in this perplexity I went on ; and first observed
the judgments of the age since the Reformation. And
here I found, in the very Harmony of the Confessions,
N 3
J 38 POTTER, CHRISTOPHER.
some little discord in these opinions, but generally, and
the most part of our reformed Churches favouring the
Remonstrants ; and among particular writers, many here
differing in judgments, though nearly linked in affection,
and all of them eminent for learning and piety ; and
being all busied against the common adversary, the
Church of Rome, these little differences amongst them-
selves were wisely neglected and concealed. At length,
some of our ow^n gave occasion, I fear, to these intestine
and woeful wars, letting fall some speeches very scandal-
ous, and which cannot be maintained. This first put
the Lutheran Churches in a fresh alarm against us, and
imbittered their hatred : and now, that which was but a
question, is made a quarrel ; that which before was fairly
and sweetly debated between private doctors, is now be-
come an appeal to contention between whole reformed
Churches, they in one army, we in the other. But still
the most wise and holy in both parties desired a peace,
and ceased not to cry with tears. Sirs, ye are brethren,
why do ye strive ? and with all their power laboured that
both the armies might be joined under the Prince of
Peace.
" But whilst these laboured for j)eace, there never
wanted some eager spirits, that made all ready for war ;
and whose nails were still itching till they were in the
wounds of the Church ; for they could not believe they
had any zeal, unless they were furious ; nor any faith,
unless they wanted all charity. And by the wicked
diligence of these Boutefem, that small spark, wdiich at
first a little moderation might have quenched, hath now
set us all in a woeful fire, worthy to be lamented with
tears of blood.
" But now you long to hear, what is the issue of all
my study and inquiry ; what my resolution. Why, you
may easily conjecture. Finding upon this serious search,
that all doubts are not clearly decided by Scripture ; that
in the ancient Church, after the age of St. Augustine,
POTTER, CHRISTOPHER. 139
who was presently contradicted by many Catholics, as
you may see in the epistles of Prosper and Fulgentius to
him upon that occasion, they have ever been friendly
debated, and never determined in any council ; that in
our age, whole Churches are here divided, either from one
another, as the Lutherans from us ; or amongst them-
selves, as the Romanists, amongst whom the Dominican
family is w^iolly for the contra-remonstrants; that in all
these several Churches, some particular doctors vary in
these opinions ; out of all this I collect, for my part,
that these points are no necessary Catholic verities, not
essential to the faith, but merely matters of opinion,
problematical, of inferior moment, wherein a man may
err, or be ignorant without danger to his soul ; yet so
still, that the glory of God's justice, mercy, truth,
sincerity, and divine grace be not any ways blemished,
nor any good ascribed to man's corrupt will, or any evil
to God's decree of Providence ; wherein I can assure
3^ou I do not depart from my ancient judgment, but do
well remember what I affirmed in my questions at the
act, and have confirmed it, I suppose, in my sermon.
So you see, I am still where I was. If I can clearly
discover any error or corruption in myself, or any other,
I should hate it with all my might : but pity, support,
and love all that love the Lord Jesus, though they err in
doubtful points ; but never break charity, unless with
him that obstinately errs in fundamentals, or is wilfully
factious. And with this moderation I dare with confi-
dence and comfort enough appear before my Lord at the
last day, when I fear what will become of him that loves
not his brother, that divine precept of love being so often
ingeminated ; why may I not, when the Lord hath
assured me by His Beati Pacifici? You tell me of a Dean
that should say, Maledicti Pacijici ; but you and he shall
give me leave in this contradiction, rather to believe my
Saviour."
In 1640, he was made vice-chancellor of the University
140 POTTER, FRANCIS.
of Oxford, in the execution of which office he met with
some trouble from the members of the long parliament.
Upon the breaking out of the civil wars he sent all his
plate to the king, and declared that he would rather,
like Diogenes, drink in the hollow of his hand, than
that his majesty should want ; and he afterwards suffered
much for the royal cause. In January, 1646, he was
nominated to the Deanery of Durham, but was prevented
from being installed by his death, which happened at his
college on the 3rd of March following. He translated
into English : — Father Paul's History of the Quarrels
of Pope Paul V. with the State of Venice, London, 1626,
4to ; and left several MSS. prepared for the press, one
of which, entitled, A Survey of the Platform of Predes-
tination, falling into the hands of Dr. William Twisse,
of Newbury, was answered by him. — Wood. Fuller. Life
of Chillingworth. Wordsivorth.
POTTER, FRANCIS.
Francis Potter was born at Meyne, in Wiltshire, in
1594, and was educated at the King's School, Worcester,
and afterwards at Trinity College, Oxford. In 1637, he
succeeded his father in the Rectory of Kilmington.
In 1642, he published at Oxford, in 4to, a Treatise
entitled " An Interpretation of the number 666,
Wherein not only the manner how this number ought
to be interpreted is clearly proved and demonstrated ;
but it is also shewed, that this number is an exquisite
and perfect character, truly, exactly, and essentially
describing that state of government, to which all other
notes of Antichrist do agree. With all known objec-
tions solidly and fully answered, that can be materially
made against it." Prefixed to it is the following opinion
of the learned Joseph Mede : " This discourse or tract
of the number of the beast is the happiest that ever
POTTER, FRANCIS. 141
yet came iuto the world, and such as cannot be read.
(save of those that perhaps will not believe it) without
much admiration. The ground hath been harped on
before, namely, that that number was to be explicated
by some avTi(TToi)(ta to the number of the Virgin-com-
pany and new Hierusalem, which type the true and
Apostolical Church, whose number is always derived
from XII. But never did any work this principal to
such a wonderfull discovery, as this author hath done,
namely, to make this number not only to shew the
manner and property of that state, which was to be
that beast, but to design the city wherein he should
reign; the figure and compass thereof; the number
of gates, cardinal titles or churches, St. Peter's altar,
and I know not how many more the like. I read the
book at first with as much prejudice against the nu-
merical speculation as might be, and almost against
my will, having met with so much vanitie formerly
in that kind. But by the time I had done, it left me
possessed with as much admiration, as I came to it with
prejudice."
This treatise was afterwards translated into French,
Dutch, and Latin, The Latin version was made by
several hands. One edition was all or most translated
by Mr. Thomas Gilbert, of Edmund Hall, in Oxford,
and printed at Amsterdam, 1677, in 8vo ; part of the
Latin translation is inserted in the second part of the
fourth volume of Poole's " Synopsis Criticorum." Our
authors treatise was attacked by Mr. Lambert More-
house, minister of Prestwood, near Kilmington, who asserts
that 25 is not the true, but propinque root of 666. Mr.
Potter wrote a Reply to him. Mr. Morehouse gave a
copy of this dispute to Dr. Seth Ward, Bishop of Sarum,
in 1668. Our author while he was very young, had
a good talent at drawing and painting, and the founder's
picture in the Hall of Trinity College is of his copying.
He had likewise an excellent genius for mechanics,
Ua POTTER, JOHN.
and made several inventions for raising water, and.
water-engines : which being communicated to the Royal
Society, about the time of its first establishment, were
highly approved of, and he was admitted a member
of that society. Mr. Wood likewise observes, that
about 1640, "he entertained the notion of curing
diseases by transfusion of blood out of one man into
another ; the hint whereof came into his head from
Ovid's story of Medea and Jason ; which matter he
communicating to the Royal Society about the time
of its first erection, it was entered into their books.
But this way of transfusion having (as it is said) been
mentioned long before by Andr. Libavius, our author
Potter (who I dare say never saw that writer) is not
to be the first inventor of that notion, nor Dr. Richard
Lewen, but rather an advancer." He became blind
before his death, and died at Kilmington, about April,
1678, and was buried in the chancel of the church
there. — Gen. Biog. Diet.
POTTER, JOHN.
John PottiIr was born at Wakefield, where his father
was a linen-draper, in 1674. Having been educated at
the Wakefield Grammar School, he proceeded to Uni-
versity College, Oxford, where, after taking his bachelor's
degree, he was employed by the master of his college.
Dr. Charlett, to compile a work for the use of his
fellow-students, entitled, Variantes Lectiones et Notae
ad Plutarchi Librum de audiendis Poetis, item Variantes
Lectiones, &c. ad Basilii Magni orationem ad juvenes,
quomodo cum fructu legere possint Groecorum Libros,
8vo. In 1694, he was chosen fellow of Lincoln College,
and proceeding M.A. in October in the same year, he
took pupils, and went into orders. In 1697, he pub-
lished his beautiful edition of Lycophron's Alexandria,
POTTER, JOHN. 143
fol. ; and the first volume of his Archseologia Greeca,
or Antiquities of Greece ; in the following year he pub-
lished the second volume. This valuable work was
incorporated in Gronovius's Thesaurus.
It is almost incredible that such works as these could
have been produced by a young man scarcely past his
twenty-third year, In 1704, he commenced B.D. ; and
being about the same time appointed chaplain to Arch-
bishop Tenison, he removed to Lambeth. The arch-
bishop also gave him the living of Great Mongeham, in
Kent, and subsequently other preferments in Bucking-
hamshire and Oxfordshire. He proceeded D.D., in April,
1706, and soon after became chaplain in ordinary to
Queen Anne. In 1707, he published his Discourse of
Church Government, 8vo. In this his great work he
asserts the constitution, rights, and government, of the
Christian Church, chiefly as described by the fathers of
the three first centuries against Erastian principles ; his
design being to vindicate the Church of England from
the charge of those principles. In this view, among
other ecclesiastical powers distinct from the state, he
maintains the doctrine of our Church, concerning the
distinction of the three orders of bishops, priests, and
deacons, particularly with regard to the superiority of
the episcopal order above that of presbyters, which he
endeavours to prove was settled by divine institution;
that this distinction was also in fact constantly kept
up to the time of Constantine, and in the next age
after that, the same distinction, he observes, was con-
stantly reckoned to be of divine institution, and derived
from the Apostles down to those times. In pursuing
this argument he considers the objection, that had been
raised against it from St. Jerome's conjecture about the
original of Episcopacy, of which he gives us the following
account from the writings of that father : — " Having
observed, says he, that the names of Bishop and Pres-
byter are used promiscuously in the Scriptures, and that
144 POTTER, JOHN.
the Apostles call themselves preshyters, he concludes,
that at first there was no distinction between their
offices, but that apostle, bishop, and presbyter, were
only different names of the same thing, and that the
Church was then generally governed by a colle.c^e of
presbyters, equal in rank and dignity to one another.
Afterwards divisions being occasioned by this parity
among presbyters, when every presbyter began to claim
as his own particular subjects, those whom he had bap-
tized ; and it was said by the people, I am of Paul, I of
Apollos, and I of Cephas ; to remedy this evil, it was
decreed all the world over, that one of the presbyters in
every Church should be set over the rest, and peculiarly
called bishop, and that the chief care of the Church
should be committed to him. Our author thinks it
strange, that such a conjecture as this should prejudice
any considering man against the divine institution of
episcopacy ; and observes, that in this account St. Jerome
founds the right of episcopal primacy over presbyters, on
the synonymous use of the names of apostles, bishops,
and presbyters, which was observed by St. Chrysostom,
Theodoret, and other ancient fathers, who drew no such
inference from it, but constantly affirmed, that' there was
a disparity of order among themx, notwithstanding their
names were used promiscuously ; and I hope, continues
the Doctor, it has been fully made out in this and the
last chapter, that this was no good foundation for that
opinion. But it is not strange that having raised pres-
byters to a parity with the apostles, contrary to the most
plain testimony of the Scriptures, he should equal them
with bishops, contrary to the sense of the ancient fathers.
Thus the premises on which the opinion is founded
being inconclusive, there is no reason to regard what he
says of the decree passed in all Churches for the raising
of one presbyter above the rest, which he does not pre-
tend to support by any testimony, but only conjectures
that such a decree must have passed, because he had
POTTER, JOHN. 145
before conjectured, that apostles, bishops, and presbyters,
were all equal at first : but when or by what authority
was this decree enacted ? If in the second century, as
some would persuade us, for no better reason than that
they are unwilling to derive episcopacy from the apostles ;
it is strange that no presbyter in the world should take
it ill, that one of his fellow-presbyters should be ad-
vanced above him, or think it his duty to oppose this
new and unscriptural model, but that so great a change
should be introduced into all parts of the world, at a
time when the Church flourished with men of great
parts and learning, and yet not the least mention is
made of it in any of their writings ; but on the con-
trary, both they and the Christian writers in the next
age after them, should constantly speak of the primacy
of bishops over presbyters as no late invention, but of
ancient right, and derived from the apostles themselves.
We may as well affirm, contrary to the accounts of all
historians, that all nations in the world were first re-
publics, and afterwards, on a certain time, upon the
consideration of their being obnoxious to factions, by
general consent became monarchies. But it is needless
to raise more objections against this notion, since Jerome
himself plainly refers the making of this decree to the
apostles. He not only assigns as the occasion of it, the
adherence of some to Paul, of others to Apollos, and of
others to Peter, which is reproved in St. Paul's Epistle
to the Corinthians ; but in his before mentioned Epistle
to Evagrias, he expressly calls the distinction of bishops,
priests, and deacons, an apostolical tradition, and taken
by the apostles from the Old Testament, where Aaron,
his sons, the priests, and the Levites, correspond to the
three orders of the Christian Church ; and in his cata-
logue of ecclesiastical writers, he affirms, that presently
after our Lord's Ascension, James was ordained Bishop
of Jerusalem, by the apostles, that Timothy was made
Bishop of Ephesus, and Titus of Crete, by St. Paul,
VOL. VITI. o
146 POTTER, JOHN.
and Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, by St. John, and he
mentions several other bishops, who lived in the next
age after the apostles. So that, even in St. Jerome's
opinion, the primacy of bishops over presbyters was
an apostolical institution. But whatever was St. Jerome's
sense of this matter, since it has appeared to be ill
grounded, and contrary both to the universal consent of
primitive antiquity, and of the Scriptures, we need not
have the least concern about it. The truth is this ; some
deacons, who enjoyed wealthier places in the Church than
many presbyters, claimed several privileges superior to
them, and were unwilling to be admitted into that order;
which irregularity was so highly resented by St. Jerome,
who was a man of passion, and only a presbyter, that to
raise his own order beyond the competition of deacons,
he endeavoured to make it equal by its original institu-
tion with bishops and apostles ; as it is common even
for the best of men, in the heat of disputation, to run
into one extreme by avoiding another. Yet even at the
same time he owns in the forementioned epistle to
Evagrias, that none but bishops had authority to ordain
ministers, and in many other places, he approves the
subordination of presbyters to bishops ; and never once
allows to mere presbyters the power of ordaining, or
seems inclined to introduce a parity of ministers into
the Church." We give at length this instance of our
author's judgment in using the authority of the fa-
thers, because his true character as a Churchman
and a divine, may in a great measure be collected
from it; in reality, we have therein a fair comment
explaining his opinion in this point, as declared in
the preface. "That these (the fathers) especially of the
three first centuries, are the best interpreters of the
Scriptures, and may safely be relied on as giving us its
genuine sense. And, continues he, if any of them
should be thought to speak sometimes with less caution,
or to carry their expression higher than might have been
t>OTTER, JOHN. 147
wished, as the best men in the heat of disputation, or
through too much zeal often do, all candid and impartial
readers, will easily be persuaded to make just allowance
for it,"
In the following year, he succeeded Dr. Jane, as
regius professor of divinity, and canon of Christ Church ;
whereupon he returned to Oxford. This promotion he
owed to the Duke of Marlborough, through whose influ-
ence he was in 1715, advanced to the see of Oxford, still
retaining the divinity chair. Just before he was made
bishop, he published his splendid and elaborate edition
of the works of Clemens Alexandrinus, *2 vols. fol. Gr.
and Lat. In this he has given a new version of the Cohor-
tatious. When Dr, Hoadley, Bishop of Bangor, made
public those opinions which brought about him such
a storm of controversy from his clerical brethren, Dr.
Potter was one of the combatants, having, in a charge
to his clergy, thought proper to warn them against some
of that prelate's opinions respecting religious sincerity.
Hoadley answered, and Potter rejoined.
In vindicating himself, Bishop Potter says, " I must
not forget under this head, that I am again charged
not only with favouring Popery, but with being a Papist
in disguise, with ' acknowledging the Protestant prin-
ciples for decency's sake, but stedfastly adhering to the
Popish' (p. 275), and all this, as it seems, for having
referred you to the practice and writers of the primi-
tive times, and of the next ages after the apostles ;
whereby I am represented to understand the reign of
Constantino, which happened, as he saith (pp. 270 —
274), almost three hundred years after. Now I am
not in the least apprehensive of my being suspected
as a favourer of Popery by any man, who knows the
true meaning of Popery; but sure it is such a compli-
ment to the Popish religion, as no Protestant would
have made, who understands his own principles, to
date its rise from the time of Constautine; the claim
148 POTTER, JOHN.
of infallibility, and of the papal supremacy, as now
exercised, the doctrine of transubstantiation, invoca-
tion of saints, image worship, prayers in an unknown
tongue, forbidding laymen to read the Scriptures, to
say nothing of other peculiar tenets of the Church of
Rome, having never been heard of during the reign
of this great emperor, or for a long time after ; as a
very little insight into the Popish Controversies, or
Ecclesiastical Historians, would have informed this
writer. It would have been much more to his pur-
pose, and equally consistent with truth and justice,
to have told his readers that, by the next age after
the apostles, I meant the times immediately preceding
the Reformation : but then one opportunity would have
been lost of declaiming against the times wherein the
Nicene Creed was composed, and Arianism condemned.
As to the primitive writers, I am not ashamed, or
afraid to repeat, that the best method of interpreting
Scripture seems to me to be the having recourse to
the writers who lived nearest the time wherein the
Scriptures were first published, that is, to the next
ages after the apostles ; and that a diligent inquiry
into the faith and practice of the Church in the same
ages, would be the most effectual way, next after the
study of the Scriptures themselves, to prevent inno-
vations in doctrine; and, lastly, that this hath been
practised with great success by some of our best advo-
cates for the Protestant cause, as Bishop Jewel, for
example, Archbishop Laud, Archbishop Ussher, Bishop
Cosins, Bishop Stillingfleet, Dr. Barrow, Bishop Bull,
with many others at home and abroad. To which it
will be replied, that ' our best writers, at least, in their
controversies with the Papists, are so far from appealing
to the judgment of the Church in the next centuries
after the apostles, in any such sense as the bishop is
arguing for against his adversaries; that the very best
of them, Mr. Chillingworth, has declared upon ths
POTTER, JOHN. U9
most mature consideration, how uncertain generally,
how self-contradictory sometimes, how insufficient always,
he esteemed this judgment to be. He had seen fathers
against fathers, councils against councils, the consent
of one age against the consent of another ; the same
fathers contradicting themselves, and the like, and he
found no rest but in the Protestant Rule of Faith.
He was willing to yield to every thing as truth, Qiiod
semper, uhiqiie et ah omnibus; because he well judged
that nothing could be conceived to be embraced as
truth at the very beginning, and so continue in all places
and at all times, but what was delivered at the begin-
ning. But he saw, with respect to some controverted
points, how early the difference of sentiment was.'
(pp. 265, 266.) In answer to this, I shall not take
upon me to determine what rank Mr. Chillingworth
ought to bear among the Protestant writers ; it being
sufficient for my purpose, that many others, and those
of chief note for learning and judgment, in their con-
troversies with the Papists and others, have appealed,
and in this manner I have recommended, to the primi-
tive writers, as every one may soon learn who will
take the pains to look into their books. In the next
place, it appears from this very passage of Mr. Chil-
lingworth, as here represented, that this design was
to prevent appealing to fathers and councils as a rule
of faith ; agreeably whereunto I have all along declared,
that, in my opinion, the Scripture is the only Rule
of Faith, and have no farther recommended the study
of the primitive writers, than as the best method of
discovering the true sense of Scripture. In the third
place, here is nothing expressly said by Mr. Chilling-
worth of the most primitive writers or councils, or
of any who lived in the next ages after the Apostles ;
but he may very well be understood, notwithstanding
any thing here produced, of those latter ages, wherein
both fathers and councils degenerated from the faitii
0 a
150 POTTER, JOHN.
and doctrine of those who went before them ; which
is the more likely, because mention here follows of
the Article which divided the Greeks from the Roman
communion ; this having not been openly disputed
before the seventh century. Fourthly, he is intro-
duced as speaking in express terms of controverted
points, but saying nothing of any principal point of
faith, nothing of any Article which was originally in
the Nicene Creed. On the contrary it may be ob-
served, in the last place, that he plainly speaks of
doctrines received by the Church in all places and at
all times, even from the very beginning, which for that
very reason, he presumed not to reject. Now it cannot
possibly be known what these are, without having
recourse to the writers of the primitive ages. So that,
upon the whole, the method I have recommended is
so far from being contradicted, that it is rather enforced
by what this writer hath cited from Mr. Chillingworth.
—p. 358."
Some time after this, he became, curiously enough,
a favourite with Queen Caroline, then Princess of
Wales ; and, upon the accession of George IT., preached
the coronation sermon, Oct. 11th, 1727, which was
afterwards printed by his majesty's express commands,
and is inserted among the bishop's theological works.
It was generally supposed that the chief direction of
public affairs, with regard to the Church, was designed
to be committed to his care ; but as he saw that this
must involve him in the politics of the times, he de-
clined the proposal, and returned to his bishopric,
until the death of Dr. Wake, in January, 1737, when
he was appointed his successor in the archbishopric
of Canterbury. This high office he filled during the
space of ten years with great reputation, and towards
the close of that period fell into a lingering disorder,
which put a period to his life October 10th, 1747, in
the seventy-fourth year of his age. He was buried at
Croydon.
POWELL. 151
The archbishop's works were published in 1753, in
3 vols. 8vo, under the title of " Theological Works of
Dr. John Potter, &c., containing his Sermons, Charges,
Discourse of Church-government, and Divinity Lec-
tures." He had himself prepared these for the press ;
his divinity lectures form a continued treatise on the
authority and inspiration of the Scriptures. Some
letters of his, relative to St. Luke's Gospel, &c., are
printed in Atterbury's Correspondence. — Potters Works.
Wood. Nichol. Biog. Brit.
POUGET, FEANCIS AIME.
Fkancis Aime Pouget was born at Montpellier, in 1666,
was educated at Paris, and became Vicar of St. Koch, in
that city. In 1696, he entered the Congregation of the
Priests of the Oratory. He died in 1723. His chief
work is entitled, Instructions in the Form of a Cate-
chism drawn up by order of M. Joachim Colbut, Bishop
of Montpellier. It is said to be in high repute among
the Papists. — Moreri.
POWELL, WILLIAM SAMUEL.
William Samuel Powell was born at Colchester, in
1717, and was admitted at St. John's College, Cam-
bridge, in the year 1734, of which college he became
a fellow in 1740. In 1741, he entered into the family of
Lord Viscount Townshend, as private tutor to his second
son Charles, who was afterwards chancellor of the ex-
chequer. Towards the end of the same year he was
ordained deacon and priest by Dr. Gooch, then Bishop
of Norwich ; and was instituted by him to the Rectory
of Colkirk, in Norfolk, on Lord Townshend's presenta-
tion. He returned to his college the year after; took
153 POWELL.
the degree of A.M. ; and began to read lectures, as
assistant to Mr. Wrigley and Mr. Tunstall : but in 1744,
he became principal tutor himself, and engaged his
eminent friend, Dr. Thomas Balguj, as an assistant lec-
turer. Mr. Powell is considered to have discharged the
duties of his tutorial office, in a very able and satisfac-
tory manner, as regards both the morals and the studies
of the young men committed to his care. The lectures,
which he drew up in the four branches of natural philo-
sophy, continued to be the text-book at St. John's College,
until they were superseded by the more elaborate pub-
lications of Dr. Wood, and his coadjutor, Professor
Vince.
In 1749, Mr. Powell proceeded to the degree of B.D. ;
and in 1753, he resigned the Rectory of Colkirk, that
it might be consolidated with Stibbard, another of Lord
Townshend's livings ; and was again instituted the next
day. At the commencement in 1757, he was created
doctor of divinity; on which occasion, he preached his
celebrated sermon, in defence of the subscriptions re-
quired by our Church.
*'At this time," says the worthy Mr. Cole, "things
were only brewing;" that is, projects were set on foot,
not only to dissolve the alliance between Church and
State, under the specious pretext that all disqualifi-
cations on account of religious scruples are to be
accounted as pains and penalties ; but also to weaken
the allegiance due to the Church from its own ministers,
by representing her requisition of assent and subscrip-
tion to any human interpretations of Scripture, as con-
trary to the spirit of Protestantism and of Christian
liberty. Dr. Powell, then a leading character in the
university, was the first of those who placed themselves
in the gap against those innovations. Subscription to
the thirty-nine articles, was, at this period, required from
undergraduates, before they were admitted to their first
degree ; a practice, which had continued from the time
POWELL. 153
of James L, and which began to be considered, not only
as encroaching on the province and privileges of litera-
ture, but as tending to render youth at that age either
reckless or hypocritical. A strong spirit of dissatis-
faction with this demand now began to manifest itself
amongst the undergraduates themselves ; many of whom
remonstrated against it, whilst others refused subscrip-
tion altogether, and forfeited the advantages to which
their previous residence in the university had entitled
them. Thus agitated as their minds were, and fomented
as their disaffection was by some who had ulterior objects
in view, Dr. Powell's sermon was directed principally to
conciliate them, to remove difficulties out of their path,
and secure their adherence to established forms and
usages.
In 1760, Dr. Powell entered anonymously into a con-
troversy, which we are inclined to think detracted some-
what from his character. The celebrated Edward Waring,
a very young man, and only bachelor of arts, being at this
time candidate for the Lucasian professorship, published
the first chapter of Miscellanea Analytica, in order that
the electors, and the university at large, might judge of
the nature of his pursuits, and his qualifications for the
high office which he solicited. This publication was
immediately attacked by some anonymous Observations ;
the author of which did not confine himself to what he
thought mathematical errors, but indulged in severe
reflections on the age, the inexperience, and the style
of the analyst. These animadversions, however, not
only failed in their object of stopping Waring's election,
but produced a reply from the new professor, in which
he vindicated his own position, and retorted the charge
of error on his adversary ; and this again was followed
by a " Defence of the Observations :" the author of them
however having become well known, Waring sent forth a
Letter to Dr. Powell, which closed the controversy ; and
in which, whilst he animadverted with considerable
154 POWELL.
severity on his antagonist, he did not forget his rank
and station.
The motive generally ascribed to Dr. Powell for this
interference, was a desire to serve the cause of his friend
Mr. Ludlam, of St. John's, who aspired to fill the vacant
chair of Newton : and certainly if he felt himself fully
competent to decide on the deep subjects of Waring's
speculations, this was a good excuse for his attempting
it : but if he was deficient in the necessary skill and
science ; if, as was the case, he proved impar congressus
Achillei, and was defeated in the contest, — candour re-
quired him to confess his fault, and make all due
reparation to his antagonist.
In 1765, he was elected Master of his College, and
was chosen vice-chancellor of the university in November
following. In 1766, he obtained the Archdeaconry of
Colchester. In 1768, he was instituted to the living of
Freshwater, in the lovely Isle of Wight.
In the meantime the course of events brought Df.
Powell more conspicuously before the public eye. His
celebrated commencement sermon, having been much
read, and much criticised, had brought out several
answers. By some, even of his own party, it was thought
to have betrayed the cause which it undertook to support ;
its principal aim indeed being to conciliate inexperienced
minds and tender consciences, rather than to defend the
practice of subscriptions on high Church principles, this
untenable ground was eagerly seized on by that faction,
which opposed all terms of subscription whatever, and
demanded not only unlimited toleration, but unlimited
license. The doctor, having asserted that " young peo-
ple may give a general assent to the articles, on the
authority of others, and thus leave room for improve-
ments in theology;" — this was taken to imply, that such
subscribers are left at liberty to retract their assent, if,
in the progress of their studies, they should find what
they assented to inconsistent with their subsequent dis-
POWELL. 155
coveries and theological acquirements. Then came the
questions : — How will you limit the period of submission
and of inquiry ? — and will not many of maturer years
avail themselves of this uncertainty, and so readily
subscribe to articles, which have been represented as
" having rules of interpretation peculiar to themselves,"
whilst the subscription itself has been stated to mean
little more than " an acknowledgment that the sub-
scriber is a member of the Church of England?" Nay,
it was even asserted, and that by a dignitary of the
Church itself, that '* this expedient had no doubt been
most thankfully accepted by a great many subscribers
within the last ten years ; and the rather, as in all that
time the Church had not declared against it." Hence
it was argued, that, if subscription to the articles was
intended to be a test of faith and doctrine, this benefit
never could be obtained from it, by reason of the
latitude allowed by its advocates and taken by its oppo-
nents : therefore it would be the wisest course to do
away altogether with a test, which, whilst it prohibited
many worthy persons from entering into the service of
the Church, let in those that were less scrupulous and
less conscientious.
These insinuations and attacks could not fail to stir
up many among the more sturdy champions of the
Church. One of the first that buckled on his armour
was Dr. Rutherforth, who skirmished with the author
of the Confessional, as it is observed, '* in the old
posture prescribed by the ancient system of Church
authority." Among others that distinguished themselves
in the same cause, were Dr. Randolph, Dr. Halifax,
and Dr. Balguy ; though this latter gentleman appeared
rather late in the field.
The principal writers on the other side of the ques-
tion were Archdeacon Blackburne, author of the Con-
fessional, Dr. Dawson, Dr. Priestley, with the celebrated
Pr. Jebb and his wife.
156 POWELL.
Great efforts were now making, throughout the king-
dom, by the anti-subscription party: petitions were
multiplied on the subject, and the minds of all ranks
excited: until, at length, a regular society was estab-
lished at the Feathers Tavern, in London, with Arch-
deacon Blackburne at its head; the avowed purpose
of which was to get up a petition to parliament, for
setting aside altogether the test of subscription, and
admitting every one into the service and preferments
of the Church, who should acknowledge the truth of
the Old and New Testament. They were also for
abolishing subscriptions in the university ; " and so
strong was the infatuation," says Mr. Cole, " that
several members of the university were led astray ; and
I am sorry to record it, that one whole college, both
head and fellows, subscribed this petition." The under-
graduates themselves were also stirred up to refuse
subscription, and to remonstrate with their superiors.
In June, 1769, they presented a petition to the heads
for an alteration of their scholastic dress, and it was
granted: for it went no farther than to change the
figure of their caps from round to square. It seems
probable, however, that this was only put forth as a
feeler; for in January, 1772, another petition was
offered, which went the length of demanding a release
from subscription, unless (as it was added with a show
of modesty) they were instructed beforehand in the
articles which they were required to subscribe. But
this being considered as subversive of discipline, and
laying a foundation for sedition, was rejected.
The master of St. John's, however, still persevering
in his design of conciliation, called together his own
students, and laid before them the state of the case
relating to their subscription ; with which they all
seemed to be thoroughly satisfied. " He was a man,"
says Mr. Cole, " of too open a nature to endeavour by
artifice to circumvent their judgment; and as it was
POWELL. 15T
the fashion, even to leave boys to judge for themselves,
he fairly stated the case to them, and left it with
them." Hoping also to do further service amongst
the main body of undergraduates, who had been strongly
instigated to refuse subscription for their first degree,
he rejoublished his commencement sermon, which soon
became the signal for much and violent abuse. In a
letter, signed Camillus, and published in the London
Chronicle, January 25th, 17T2, he was complimented
on having "originated an idea by which the devil
himself might subscribe," &c.; and the republication
is styled, " an effort to despoil the unsuspecting sim-
plicity of youth of that native honour and integrity,
which will hereafter be but ill exchanged for a superior
knowledge of the world."
Dr. Powell made no reply to his accusers : but the
question was taken up by his friend. Dr. Balguy, arch-
deacon of Winchester ; who, in the fifth of his admi-
rable charges, seems to have placed the question on
its most tenable grounds ; making it also manifest to
his opponents, that as much integrity and candour may
be exercised in supporting established institutions, as
in attacking and depreciating them.
The hopes of the faction in the metropolis were at
this time much elated ; and they fully expected, amidst
the alarm of republican tumults, and the seditious cries
of "Wilkes and Liberty," to carry their favourite mea-
sure : but the parliament saw through the scheme laid
for the destruction of our ecclesiastical establishment
by dissenters of all descriptions ; nor was it moved by
any remonstrances from the discontented of the Church
itself, who had joined themselves to its adversaries:
it rejected therefore the petition by a very large ma-
jority.
Dr. Powell was a vehement opposer of Mr. Jebb's
plan of University Reform : but this is a controversy
too long to enter upon here. Although low in his
VOL. VIII. J?
158 POYNET.
Church principles, he was, as such persons often are,
a great stickler for legal rights and constituted authority.
He died in 1775. His published works, edited by Dr.
Balguy, contain three discourses preached before the
university ; thirteen preached in the college chapel ;
one on public virtue ; three charges to the clergy of the
archdeaconry of Colchester ; and his Disputation on
taking his doctor's degree. — Balguy. Hughes.
POYNET, OE POXET.
John Poynet, or Ponet, was, according to Strype, a
Kentish man, and of Queen's College, Cambridge. He
was born about the year 1516. He was distinguished
in the University as a mathematician, and as one skilled
in Patristic theology. He was a decided advocate for
the Reformation of the Church, and was appointed
his chaplain by Archbishop Cranmer. He translated
Ochin's Dialogues against the pope's supremacy, and
was so highly considered that in his thirty-third year
he was consecrated Bishop of Rochester.
The consecration took place on the 29th of June,
1550, and is thus described by Strype: "The bishop
having on his mitre and cope, usual in such cases,
went into his chapel, handsomely and decently a.dorned,
to celebrate the Lord's Supper according to the cus-
tom, and by prescript of the book entitled The Book
of Common-Service. Before the people there assem-
bled, the holy suffrages first began, and were publicly
recited, and the Epistle and Gospel read in the vulgar
tongue ; Nicholas, ^ Bishop of London, and Arthur,
Bishop of Bangor, assisting ; and, having their sur-
plices and copes on, and their pastoral staves in their
hands, led Dr. John Poynet, endued with the like
habits, in the middle of them, unto the most reverend
fiather, and presented him unto him, sitting in a de-
POYNET. 159
cent chair; and used these words, 'Most reverend
father in God, we present unto you this godly and well-
learned man to be consecrated bishop.' The bishop
elect forthwith produced the king's letters patents before
the archbishop : which, by command of the said arch-
bishop, being read by Dr. Glyn, the said Poynet took
the oath of renouncing the Bishop of Rome, and then
the oath of canonical obedience to the archbishop.
These things being thus dispatched, the archbishop
exhorted the people to prayer and supplication to the
Most High, according to the order prescribed in the
Book of Ordination, set forth in the month of March,
1549. According to which order he was elected and
consecrated, and endued with the episcopal ornaments,
the Bishop of London first having read the third chap-
ter of the First Epistle of Paul to Timothy, in the man-
ner of a sermon. These things being done, and the
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper celebrated upon a
table covered with a white linen cloth, by the arch-
bishop and the two assisting bishops, the same arch-
bishop decreed to write to the Archdeacon of Canter-
bury for the investiture, installation, and inthroniza-
tion of the said Bishop of Ptochester, as it w^as customary.
Present, Anthony Huse, principal Register of the arch'
bishop; Peter Lilly, John Lewis, John Incent, public
notaries; and many others, as well clerks as laics."
In 1551, he was translated to the See of Winchester,
after the deprivation of Gardiner. He was a frequent
preacher, and wrote several treatises in defence of the
Reformation ; but his most remarkable performance
was what is commonly called King Edward's Cate-
chism, which appeared in 1513, in two editions, the
one Latin, the other English, with the royal privilege.
From this Catechism Nowell took much in forming
his own. When Queen Mary came to the crown, Poy-
net, with many others, retired to Strasburgh, where
he died on the 11th of April, 1556, before he had
160 PRESTON.
completed his fortieth year. He also wrote : — A Tra-
gedy, or Dialogue of the unjust usurped Primacy of the
Bishop of Ptome, translated from Bernard Ochinus ;
A Notable Sermon concerning the Plight Use of the
Lord's Supper, &c., preached before the King at West-
minster, 1550; Dialecticon Viri boni et literati de
Veritate, Natura, atque Substantia Corporis et San-
guinis Christi in Eucharistia ; in this, Bayle says,
he endeavoured to reconcile the Lutherans and Zuing-
lians ; A Short Treatise of Politic Power, and of
the True Obedience which Subjects owe to Kings and
other Civil Governors, with an Exhortation to all
true natural English men, compiled by D. I. P. B.
R, V. v., i.e. Dr. John Poynet, Bishop of Rochester
and Winchester ; and, A Defence for Marriage of Priests.
— Godwin. Strijpe.
PEESTON, JOHN.
The following is the account given of Preston, by
Fuller: — "He was born at Heyford, in Northampton-
shire; bred in Queen's College, in Cambridge, whose
life (interwoven much with church and state matters) is
so well written by his pupil, Master Thomas Ball, that
all additions thereunto may seem ' carrying of coals
to Newcastle.' However, seeing he who carrieth char-
coal (a different kind from the native coal of that place)
may meet with a chapman there, on the same confidence
a word or two of this doctor.
" Before he commenced Master of Arts, he was so far
from eminency, as but a little above contempt. Thus
the most generous wines are the most muddy before they
are fine. Soon after, his skill in philosophy rendered
him to the general respect of the university.
" He was the greatest pupil-monger in England in
man's memory, having sixteen fellow- commoners (most
PRESTON. 161
heirs to fair estates) admitted in one year in Queen's
College, and provided convenient accommodations for
them. As WilHam the popular Earl of Nassau was
said to have won a subject from the King of Spain, to
his own party, every time he put off his hat ; so was
it commonly said in the college, that every time when
Master Preston plucked off his hat to Doctor Davenant
the college master, he gained a chamber or study for one
of his pupils ; amongst whom one Chambers a Londoner
(who died very young,) was very eminent for his learning.
Being chosen Master of Emanuel College, he removed
thither with most of his pupils ; and I remember when
it was much admired where all these should find
lodgings in that college, which was so full already,
'Oh!' said one, 'Master Preston will carry Chambers
along with him.'
" The party called Puritan then being most active in
Parliament, and Doctor Preston most powerful with
them, the duke rather used than loved him, to work
that party to his compliance. Some thought the doctor
was unwilling to do it ; and no wonder he effected not,
what he affected not. Others thought he was unable,
that party being so diffusive, and then, in their designs
(as since in their practices) divided. However, whilst
any hope, none but Doctor Preston with the duke, set by
and extolled, and afterwards, set by and neglected, when
found useless to the intended purpose. In a word, my
worthy friend fitly calls him the court-comet, blazing for
a time, and fading soon afterwards.
" He was a perfect politician, and used (lapwing-like) to
flutter most on that place which was furthest from his
eggs ; exact at the concealing of his intentions, with that
simulation, which some make to lie in the marches of
things lawful and unlawful. He had perfect command
of his passion ; with the Caspian Sea never ebbing nor
flowing ; and would not alter his composed pace for all
the whipping which satrical wits bestowed upon him.
p 3
162 PRICE.
He never had wife, or cure of souls ; and leaving a
plentiful, no invidious estate, died anno Domini 1628,
July 20."
PKICE, RICHARD.
Richard Price was born at Langeinor, in Glamorgan-
sliire, in 1723. He received his education first at Tal-
garth, in his native country, and next at an academy
in London. After residing some years with a gentleman
at Stoke-Newington, he became morning-preacher at the
Gravel-pit meeting, Hackney. In 1769, the University
of Glasgow conferred on him the degree of doctor in
divinity; and the same year he published his " Treatise
on Reversionary Payments," which was followed, in 1772,
by " Observations on the National Debt." During the
American war, he printed two pamphlets against that
measure, one entitled " Observations on Civil Liberty" ;
and the other, "Observations on Civil Government"; for
which the corporation in London voted him thanks, and
a gold box. In 1778, he had a friendly controversy with
Dr. Priestley, on materialism and necessity. On the
termination of the war, Mr. Pitt consulted Dr. Price
respecting the best mode of liquidating the national
debt, the result of which it is said, was the adoption of
the sinking fund. When the French Revolution broke
out, the doctor distinguished himself by a sermon, in
which he hailed that event as the commencement
of a glorious era. This drew upon the preacher some
strong animadversions from Mr. Burke in his celebrated
Reflections. Dr. Price died March 19th, 1791. As a
calculator he was pre-eminent; and the Society for
Equitable Assurances was greatly indebted to him for
his services. He was also an active member of the
Royal Society; and very amiable in private life. His
other work's are : — Review of the Questions and Diffi-
culties iu Morals ; Dissertations on Prayer, Providence,
PRIDEAUX. 163
Miracles, and a Future State ; Essay on the Population
of England; State of the Public Debts and Finances;
On the Importance of the American Ptcvolution ; and a
Volume of Sermons. — Watkins Biog. Diet.
PEIDEAUX, JOHN.
Jqhn Peideaux was born in 1578, at Stowford, in the
Parish of Harford, near Ivy Bridge, in Devonshire.
The fallowing is the account given of him by Fuller.
" He was bred scholar, fellow, and rector of Exeter
College, in Oxford, Canon of Christ-Church, and above
thirty years king's professor in that university. An
excellent linguist; but so that he would make words
wait on his matter, chiefly aiming at expressiveness
therein ; he had a becoming festivity, which was Aris-
totle's, not St. Paul's, EvrpaTreXta.
"Admirable his memory, retaining whatever he had
read. The Welsh have a proverb (in my mind some-
what uncharitable) ' He that hath a good memory,
giveth few alms ;' because he keepeth in mind what
and to whom he had given before. But this doctor
crossed this proverb, with his constant charity to all
in want.
" His learning w^as admired by foreigners, Sextinus
Amma, Pdvet, &c. He was not vindictive in the least
degree ; one intimate with him having assured me, that
he would forgive the greatest injury, upon the least
show of the party's sorrow, and restore him to the
degree of his form&r favour; and though politicians
will thence collect him no prudent man, divines will
conclude him a good Christian.
" Episcopacy in England being grievously wounded by
malevolent persons. King Charles the First conceived
that the best wine and oil that could be poured into
these wounds was, to select persons of known learning
164 PRIDE AUX.
and unblameable lives, to supply the vacant bishoprics ;
amongst whom Dr. Prideaux was made Bishop of Wor*
cester."
But it was all in vain. He adhered to the king's
cause, and having excommunicated all who took up
arms against his majesty in the diocese of Worcester,
he was plundered, and was obliged at last to sell his
library. Dr. Gauden said of him that he had become
literally a Helluo Librorum, being obhged to turn his
books into bread for his children. But he never lost
his good temper. A friend coming to see him, and
saluting him in the common form of " How doth your
lordship do?" "Never better in my life," said he,
" only I have too great a stomach ; for I have eaten
that little plate which the sequestrators left me ; I have
eaten a great library of excellent books ; I have eaten
a great deal of linen, much of my brass, some of my
pewter, and now I am come to eat iron, and what
will come next I know not." He died in the year 1650,
at the age of seventy-two, leaving to his children no
legacy but "pious poverty, God's blessing, and a
fathers prayers," as appears from his last will and
testament. His learning was very extensive, his me-
mory prodigious, and he was reputed the best disputant
in his time in the university. It is recorded to his
honour that he was at the same time " an humble man,
of plain and downright behaviour," exemplary in his
charity, affable in conversation, and never desirous of
concealing his lowly origin. He was often heard to say,
" If I could have been clerk of Ugborow, I had never
been Bishop of Worcester ;" and so far from being
ashamed of his original poverty, he kept in the same
wardrobe with his rochet, the leather breeches which
he wore when he came to Oxford, as a memorial of it.
He was the author of: — Tabulae ad Grammaticam
Graecam introductoriae, 1608, 4to, with which were
printed, Tyrocinium ad Syllogismum contexendum, and
PRIDEAUX, HUMPHREY. 165
Heptades Logicae, sive monita ad ampliores Tractatus
introductoria ; Lectiones decern de totidem Religionis
Capitibus, &c., 1625, 4to ; Fasciculus controversiarum
theologicamm, &c., 1649, 4to ; Theologise Scholasticse
Syntagma Mnemonicum, printed in 1651, 4to ; Conci-
liorum Synopsis, printed in 1661, 4to ; Manuductio
ad Theologiam Polemicam, printed in 1657, 8vo ; Hy
pomnemata Logica, Rhetorica, Physica, Metaphysica
&c., 8vo; Twenty Sermons, 1636, 4to ; Nine Sermons
on several occasions, 1641, 4to ; Histories of Succes
sions in States, Countries, or Families, printed in 1653
Euchologia, or, the Doctrines of Practical Praying, &c.
printed in 1655, 8vo; The Doctrine of Conscience
framed according to the Form in the Common Prayer,
&c., printed in 1656, 8vo ; Sacred Eloquence, or, the
Art of Rhetoric, as it is laid down in Scripture, printed
in 1656, 8vo; and various other w^orks in Latin and
English, the titles of which are inserted in Wood's
Athen. Oivon. — Fuller. Wood. Walker.
PEIDEAUX, HUMrHEEY.
The great work of Dean Prideaux, the Connection of
the History of the Old and New Testaments, is still a
standard work among us, and gives an interest to his
name. A life was published of him in 1748, which
contains nothing of any general interest, being merely
the narrative of a respectable and learned man, who did
his duty respectably in the various places to which he
was called, and who rather exaggerated his influence
and importance in his own mind. He was born at
Padstow, in Cornwall, in 1648, and was educated at
Westminster, and Christ Church. At Christ Church he
Avas a diligent and successful student, as is proved by
the fact that he obtained the patronage of Fell. Dr.
Fell employed him in supplying notes to an edition of
166 PRIDEAUX, HUMPHREY.
Lucius Florus, and afterwards in completing the notes
and explanations on the Arundel Marbles, which had
been published in the first instance by Selden. On the
latter work he was employed for two years. In 1676,
he published his Marmora Oxoniensia ex Arundellianis,
Seldenianis, aliisque constata, cum perpetuo Commen-
tario, fol. This book, published when he was only
twenty-six years of age, gave him a high reputation in
the university, and was well received by the learned
world, particularly in Germany, France, and Italy. So
great was the demand for it, that it soon became scarce,
and was only to be obtained at an advanced price.
Prideaux, however, is said to have entertained little
value for the work himself, owing to its having been
drawn up in too great haste, and to the number of
typographical errors with which it abounds, through the
negligence of the corrector of the University press. A
more correct edition was published under the inspection
of Michael Maittaire, in 1732, fol. Having, by order,
presented one of the copies of the Marmora to the lord-
chancellor Finch, this introduced him to his lordship's
patronage, who soon after placed one of his sons under
him, as tutor at Christ Church ; and in 1679, presented
him to the Rectory of St. Clement's, in the suburb of
Oxford, where he officiated for several years. The same
year he published Two Tracts of Maimonides in Hebrew,
with a Latin translation and notes, under the title, De
Jure Pauperis et Peregrin! apud Judeos. This he did
in consequence of having been appointed Dr. Busby's
Hebrew lecturer in Christ Church, and with a view to
teach students the rabbinical dialect, and to read it
without points. In 1681, the lord-chancellor Finch,
then Earl of Nottingham, presented him to a prebend
in the Cathedral of Norwich. In November, 1682, he
was admitted to the degree of bachelor in divinity, and
on the death of Lord Nottingham, found another patron
in his successor, Sir Francis North ; who, in February
PRIDEAUX, HUMPHREY. ]67
of the following year, gave hira the Rectory of Bladen,
with Woodstock Chapelry, in Oxfordshire. He pro-
ceeded D.D. in 1686, and having exchanged his living
of Bladen for that of Sahara, in Norfolk, he went to
settle upon his prebend in Norwich. Here he became
engaged in some severe contests with the Roman
Catholics, the result of which was the publication of
his work, The Validity of the Orders of the Church
of England made out. He also took an active part in
resisting the arbitrary proceedings of James II., which
affected the interests of the Established Church. In
1688, he was collated to the Archdeaconry of Suffolk,
and not without due consideration, took the oaths of
allegiance to William and Mary, and acted up to them
faithfully; but he always looked upon the nonjurors
as honest men, and treated them with kindness and
respect. In 1694, he resigned his Hving at Saham ;
and in 1696, he was instituted to the Vicarage of
Trowse, near Norwich. He published, in 1687, his
Life of Mahomet. In 1702, he was made Dean of
Norwich ; and in 1707, he published Directions to
Churchwardens ; a w^ork which has often been reprinted.
The best edition is that corrected and improved by Tyr-
whitt, London, 1833. In 1710, he published his work
upon Tythes, 8vo ; and in the same year, he resigned
the Vicarage of Trowse. He was during the latter part
of his life greatly afflicted with the stone, which entirely
disqualified him for public duties. But he still per-
sued his private studies, and at length, in 1715, he
brought out the first part of his last and greatest work,
The Connection of the History of the Old and New
Testament, and the second part in 1717, fol. His
strength had been long declining, and he died November
1st, 1724, in his seventy-seventh year, and was buried
in Norwich Cathedral. About three days before his
death he presented his collection of Oriental books, more
than 300 in number, to the hbrary of Clare Hall, Cam-
168 PRIESTLEY, JOSEPH.
bridge. Several posthumous Tracts and Letters, with'
a Life of Dr. Prideaux, the author of which is not named,
were published in 1748, 8vo. — Life above refered to.
PRIESTLEY, JOSEPH.
Joseph Priestley is chiefly known in the theological
world for the controversy in which he was engaged
with Bishop Horsley ; and for an account of which
the reader is referred to the Biography of that prelate,
who exposed the ignorance and want of scholarship,
not less than the bad principles of his opponent.
The following notice is taken from Watkins's Univer-
sal Biographical Dictionary : —
" Priestley was born at Fieldhead, in Yorkshire,
March 18th, 1733. He was educated in an academy ^
at Daventry, after which he became minister to a con-
gregation at Needham Market, in Suffolk ; from whence
he removed to Nantwich, in Cheshire, and next to
Warrington, where the dissenters had formed a semi-
nary, on a plan of liberal sentiment. While tutor
in this institution, he published the History of Elec-
tricity, which procured his election into the Eoyal
Society, and the degree of doctor of laws from Edin-
burgh. Soon after this he left Warrington, and went
to Leeds, where he made those important discoveries
with regard to the properties of fixed air, for which
he obtained the Copley medal from the Royal Society
in 1772. In 1776, he communicated to the same
learned body his observations on respiration, being the
first who experimentally ascertained that the commoni
inspired air becomes both lessened and injured, by the
action of the blood, as it passes through the lungs.
After this he made some curious observations on the
food of plants, and the production of the various gases.
These pursuits procured him the appointment of com^
PRISCILLIAN. 169
panion to the Earl of Shelburne, with whom he resided
seven years, and then retired on a pension to Birming-
ham, where he devoted more attention to polemics than
philosophy. He had, indeed, previously published some
works in defence of materialism and necessity ; but now
he made more direct attacks upon the common faith of
Christians. In 1783, came out his History of the Cor-
ruptions of Christianity; which, though a compilation
from modern books, had an imposing appearance of
learned research. On this account, Dr. Horsley thought
it necessary to expose the sources from whence the work
was drawn, and to show the fallacy of its positions. He
next engaged warmly in the proceedings for a repeal
of the corporation and test acts. But it was the French
revolution that afforded him the widest field ; and he
did not fail to display his zeal on that occasion. This,
however, gave much offence to the people of Birming-
ham, among whom party-spirit ran very high, and was
excited, beyond doubt, by the writings of Dr. Priestley.
At length, an entertainment, on the 14th of July, 1791,
to celebrate the destruction of the Bastile, furnished-
the pretext for a riot, in which many houses were de-
stroyed, and that of the doctor's among the rest. After
this he removed to Hackney, where he succeeded Dr.
Price; but in 1794, he went to America, and died there,
February 6th, 1804.
PRISCILLIAN.
PRTSCILLIAN, a heretic of the fourth century, was by
birth a Spaniard. The heresy by which his name has been
rendered infamous is a modification of Manicheism.
It was introduced into Spain by Marcus, a magician of
Memphis, but owed its success to the patronage of Pris-
cillian, who was a man of large fortune and gifted with
great talent and eloquence. Their followers were called
VOL. VIII, Q
170 PRISCILLIAN.
Priscillianists. Under his patronage, the new doctrines
were rapidlj^ extended, and infected even some amongst
the bishops, as Instantius and Salvianus. Although
condemned by a council at Saragossa, these bishops
were not deterred, and presumed so far as to con-
stitute PrisciUian Bishop of Avila. The Emperor
Gratian expelled them from Spain, and they immediately
went to Milan and to Ptome, to gain to their interests
the pontiff Damasus and the imperial court. They
succeeded by their arts in the latter attempt. Their
chief opponent, Ithiacus Bishop of Ossonoba, was obliged
to leave Spain, but in a short time, laid his complaint
before the new emperor, Maximus, who, after the death
of Gratian, began to rule from Treves over the western
provinces of the empire. The usurper commanded the
chiefs of the Priscillianists to appear before a council
at Bordeaux. Here Instantius was deposed, but Pris-
ciUian appealed to the emperor ; and the council which
ought not to have been diverted by this artifice from
jjronouncing over him sentence of deposition and ex-
communication, granted to him his request. Pris^
cillian therefore and his followers on the one side, and
Idiacus, Bishop of Merida, and Ithiacus, on the other,
met at Treves. Ithiacus, a short-sighted zealot, persuaded
Maximus to violate the promise which he had made to
St. Martin of Tours, that he would not shed the blood
of PrisciUian. The prefect Evodius conducted the
examination according to the Roman forms, with the
application of the torture, and the emperor signed the
sentence of death. PrisciUian, the widow Euchrocia,
and five others were accused of odious crimes, and
beheaded in 385 ; Instantius and others were excom-
municated.
The system of PrisciUian had for its foundation the
Manichean dualism. It taught that an evil principle,
which had sprung from chaos and eternal darkness, was
the creator of the lower world : that souls, which are of
PTOLEMY. 171
a divine nature, were sent by God from heaven, to combat
with the powers of darkness and against their kingdom,
but were overcome and enclosed within bodies. To
free these souls, the Redeemer descended from heaven,
clothed with a celestial body, which was, in appearance
only, like to the bodies of ordinary men. By his
sufferings, — which, according to PrisciUian, were only
apparent and symbolical, — he erased the mark which the
evil spirits had impressed upon the souls, when they
confined them within material bodies. The sect pro-
hibited the use of marriage, commanded abstinence
from animal food, and rejected the belief of the resur-
rection. Their mysteries were not less abominable than
those of the Manichees. To conceal their own doctrines,
and to calumniate the Catholics, by lies and false swearing,
they considered perfectly justifiable. — Dollinger.
PKITZ, JOHN GEORGE.
John George Pritz was born at Leipsic, in 166-2, and
in 1698, was appointed professor of divinity and meta-
physics at Zerbet in Saxony. In 1711, he removed to
Frankfort on the Maine, where he died in 1732. He
published, Patris Macarii ^gyptii Homiliae L. Greece
et Latine, interprete Zacharia Palthenio ; Macarii ^gyptii
Opera ; Introductio in Lectionem Novi Testamenti ; an
edition of the New Testament, in the original Greek,
with various Readings, Geographical Charts, &c. ;
Sermons ; Devotional Treatises ; translated from the
English into German; and an edition of the Latin
Letters of Milton.
PTOLEMY OF LUCCA,
Ptolemy of Lucca is the historical name of Bartholomew
172 PYLE.
Fiadoni, which he assumed on entering the order of
St. Dominic. He flourished in the 14th century and
was superior of the monastery both at Lucca and Florence.
He was confessor to Pope John XXII., and in 1318, he
was made Bishop of Torcello, under the patriarchate of
Venice. He died in 1327. His Annals extend from
1060 to 1303, and were published at Lyons in 1619.
But his great work is his Historiae Ecclesiasticae, Lib.
XXIV., commencing with the birth of Christ, and brought
down to 1313. This after remaining long in MS. was
published at Milan, in 1727, by Muratori, in his Pierum
Italicarum Scriptores. — Diqnn.
PYLE, THOMAS.
Thomas Pyle, a latitudinarian divine, was born at Stodey
in Norfolk, in 1674. He graduated at Caius College,
Cambridge, and on his being ordained, became curate
of St. Margaret's parish in King's Lynn; and in 1701,
he was appointed minister of St. Nicolas's chapel.
Between the years 1708 and 1718, he published six
occasional sermons, chiefly in defence of the principles
of the Revolution, and the succession of the Brunswick
family. He was violent and impetuous, and having
taken the heterodox side in the Bangorian controversy,
in which he published two pamphlets in vindication of
Bishop Hoadley, he was rewarded by a prebend and a
residentiaryship in that cathedral. In 1732, he obtained
the vicarage of St. Margaret at Lynn. He died in 1756.
He wrote : — Paraphrase on the Acts, and all the Epistles,
in the manner of Dr. Clarke, This was followed by his
Paraphrase on the Revelation of St. John, and on the
Historical Books of the Old Testament. Sixty sermons
of his were published in 1773 — 1783, 3 vols 8vo, by
his youngest son Philip. — Nichols s Bomjer.
QUADRATUS. 173
QUADEATUS.
QuADEATUs, one of the earliest Christian apologists, was
born or at least educated at Athens, of which city he
became the bishop. Eusebius in the history of affairs
in the reign of Trajan, writes thus. — " Of those that
flourished in these times, Quadratus is said to have been
distinguished for his prophetical gifts. There were many
others, also noted in these times, who held the lirst
rank in the apostolic succession. These, as the holy
disciples of such men, also built up the Churches, where
foundations had been previously laid in every place by
the Apostles. They augmented the means of promul-
gating the Gospel more and more, and spread the seeds
of salvation, and of the heavenly kingdom, throughout
the world far and wide. For the most of the disciples
at that time, animated with a more ardent love of the
Divine word, had first fulfilled the Saviour's precept, by
distributing their substance to the needy : afterwards
leaving their country, they performed the office of evan-
gelists to those who had not yet heard the faith, whilst
with a noble ambition to proclaim Christ, they also
delivered to them the books of the holy gospels. After
laying the foundation of the faith in foreign parts as
the particular object of their mission, and after appointing
others as shepherds of the flocks, and committing to
these the care of those that had been recently introduced,
they went again to other regions and nations, with the
grace and co-operation of God. The Holy Spirit also
still wTought many wonders through them, so that as
soon as the gospel was heard, men voluntarily, in
crowds, and eagerly, embraced the true faith, with
their whole minds. As it is impossible for us to give
the number of the individuals that became pastors
or evangelists, during the first immediate succession
from the Apostles in the Churches throughout the world,
Q 3
174 QUADRATUS.
we have only recorded those by name in our history,
of whom we have received the traditional account, as
it is delivered in the various comments on the apos-
tolic doctrine still extant."
He also adds in another place; "Trajan having
held the sovereignty for twenty years, wanting six
months, was succeeded in the imperial office by ^lius
Adrian. To him, Quadratus addressed a discourse,
as an apology for the religion that we profess ; because
certain malicious persons attempted to harass our bre-
thren. The work is still in the hands of some of the
brethren, as also in our own, from which any one
may see evident proof, both of the understanding of
the man, and of his apostolic faith. The writer shew^s
the antiquity of the age in which he lived, in these
passages : ' the deeds of our Saviour,' says he, ' were
always before you, for they were true miracles : those
that were healed, those that were raised from the dead,
who were seen, not only when healed, and when raised,
but were always present. They remained living a long
time, not only whilst our Lord was on earth, but likewise
when He had left the earth ; so that some of them have
also lived to our own times.' Such was Quadratus. Aris-
tides, also, a man faithfully devoted to the rehgion
we profess, like Quadratus, has left to posterity, a
defence of the faith, addressed to Adrian. This work
is also preserved by a great number, even to the
present day."
Eusebius also adds in his Chronicle, and he is
supported in that statement by Jerome, that this
piece produced the wished-for effect upon the emperor's
mind, and was the means of procuring a temporary
calm for the professors of Christianity. Of this work,
we have only a small fragment remaining, preserved
by Eusebius. Valesius, Dupin, Tillemont, and Basnage,
maintain that Quadratus the Apologist was not the
same person with the bishop of Athens ; but this
QUESNEL. ]75
opinion has been refuted by Cave, Grabe, and Lardner.
— Eusehius. St. Jerome.
QUESNEL, PASQUIEE.
The life of Quesnel, like those of Arnauld, Jansenius
and Pascal, is interesting as throwing light on the
history of the Gallican Church. The following life is
taken from the introductory essay supplied to the English
translation of the Moral Reflections by Dr. Daniel
Wilson, the present Bishop of Calcutta. Pasquier
Quesnel was born at Paris, July 14th, 1634. His
grandfather was a native of Scotland ; but whether
a Roman Catholic or not, does not appear. His father
was most probably of that persuasion ; and Pasquier
after being educated at the University of Paris, entered
into the Religious Congregation of the Oratoire, in 1657.
He devoted himself from his earliest years, to the study
of the sacred Scriptures and of the fathers of the Church.
He began soon to compose books of piety, chiefly for
the use of the young people intrusted to his care. It
was in this course that he was led to write the first
portion of those Reflections which, thirty years after-
wards, kindled so ardent a controversy. One or two
persons of distinction having been much delighted with
them, encouraged him to extend his notes to the whole
of the Gospels ; for at first they comprehended only
some portions of our Lord s life, and they thus gra-
dally swelled into a very important work, w^hich gave
a character to the age in which it appeared. It was
in 1671, that the first edition was published under the
sanction of the then Bishop of Chalons sur Marne ; for
it was not uncommon for persons of that station, if
men of piety, to authorize and circulate works of devo-
tion, with the sufferance of their superiors, so long
iis the peculiar tenets of the Roman Catholic Church
176 QUESNEL.
were intermingled, and no great stir was excited about
the evangelical truths which they contained. Quesnel
continually added to his Reflections during the rest of
his hfe. He embraced the Acts of the Apostles, and
the Epistles in his plan ; besides enriching by more
than one half, the original notes. His last years were
dedicated to the preparation of a still more enlarged
edition, with much new matter, which was published
in 1 727. Nearly sixty years were thus employed more
or less, upon this pleasing and elevated task — another
proof amongst a thousand, that nothing really excellent
is the fruit of haste. When you come to understand
the real facts, you discover that the books which last,
which form eras in theology, which go out with a large
measure of the Divine blessing, are the result of much
prayer and meditation, of thoughts often revolved and
matured by degrees. Thus new and important lights
irradiate the mind, the proximate ideas are suggested
by time and occasion, errors and excrescencies are
detected, topics assume a new face and consistency,
prayer brings down the influences of grace, all the
powers of the mind are brought to bear upon the
inquiry, and something is produced for the honour of
God and the permanent welfare of His Church.
One great work is commonly as much as one man
produces ; and this the result of unexpected incident,
rather than of express intention, in the first instance.
Pascal left his Thoughts — Bacon, his Novum Organum,
Butler, his Analog}^ — Quesnel, his Reflections, — a life
having been, in each case, devoted to the particular
inquiry ; and the form and magnitude and importance
of each work, having been least of all, in the first
intentions of the writers. Pride conceives great designs,
and accomplishes little ; humility dreads the promise of
difficult undertakings, and accomplishes much.
Quesnel's sentiments on religion were now becoming
known, as his book spread. His talents, his elegant
QUESNEL. 177
style, his brilliancy of imaginatioD, were acknowledged.
His deep and penetrating piety was not immediately
understood. His whole life seems to have been dedicated
to the love of his Crucified Saviour. The fall and
total corruption of our nature, the distinct necessity of
grace for the production of anything really good, the
grateful adoration of the purposes and will of God
towards His elect : these formed the foundation of
Quesnel's religious principles. They were not held
merely as doctrines ; they were insisted on, felt, followed
out into their consequences. A deep and tender
humility appears in his spirit, a deadness of affection
as to the world, a perception of joy and peace in
the spiritual life, a faith full of childlike simplicity
and repose of soul on the grace and power of Christ ;
a minute conscientiousness in the application of his
principles to his whole conduct, a skill in detecting
false motives, a bold and uncompromising courage in
speaking truth : these were the fruits of the great
Scriptural principles which he had imbibed.
Mixed, however, with these sound and elevated
principles and habits, were many great errors and
superstitions, flowing from his education in the bosom
of the apostate Church. His study of the fathers, instead
of being confined to a fair and Scriptural consultation
of their writings, was cramped by his reliance on
them as authoritative guides. They warped his judg-
ment instead of assisting it. The doctrine of Justifi-
cation was confounded with that of Sanctifi cation ; and
though both were bottomed upon grace in the most
decisive manner, yet so wide a departure from the
statements of Scripture, could not but have an unfa-
vourable influence upon the whole tenor of his religion.
Thus, like Pascal, Nicole, Arnauld, St. Cyran, and
the other great names of the same school, the highest
order of excellence on capital points, was combined
with some glaring errors. Deep spirituality of mind,
178 QUESNEL.
unaffected humility, holy love to the Divine Saviour,
a simple repose on the grace of the Holy Spirit, a
life of devoted and courageous obedience, were associated
with much uncommanded prostration of the under-
standing to human authority, many dangerous super-
stitions, and much uncharitable condemnation of
Protestants.
It was in 1681, that persecution first burst out
against Quesnel. The new doctrines (for truth, when
it re-appears in force, is new to fallen man, especially
in a very corrupt Church,) began to attract attention.
Numbers espoused them. The Jesuits were the first
to take the alarm. Harlai, Archishop of Paris, in-
formed of Pasquier's sentiments, obliged him to
quit the capital. He took refuge at Orleans. Three
years afterwards, he fled to Brussels, to avoid the
necessity of signing an absurd formulary, in which
the condemnation of Jansenism was allied with the
renunciation of the natural philosophy of Descartes.
Here he joined the great Arnauld, and received his
last instructions. He devoted himself now to the con-
tinuation of his Reflections; and in 1694, published
an edition which comprised, for the first time, the
whole of the New Testament. The Jesuits had not
yet prevailed. Louis-Antoine de Noailles, afterwards
Archbishop of Vares, and cardinal, was now Bishop
of Chalons-sur-Marne, and scrupled not to recommend
the book to his diocese. The Bishops of Limoges, iVgen,
Montpellier, and Sonez, afterwards did the same.
The celebrated Bossuet likewise joined in defending
the book, and the Cardinal de Noailles also, when
the Jesuits publicly attacked them. Bossuet, in his
earlier life, seems to have inclined more to the sen-
timents of St. Augustine and Jansenius, than to the
contrary notions of the Jesuits. The controversy with
Fenelon had not yet soured his mind, nor his eleva-
tion at court cooled his piety. An idea may be formed
QUESNEL. 179
of the immense circulation of the Reflections, and the
prodigious eagerness with which they were sought for,
from what the Bishop of Meaux observes : — •' This
book, which contained at first only the text of the
Gospels and the Notes upon them, was received with
an avidity and a desire of edification, which seemed
to revive in our days, the primitive zeal of Christians
for continual meditation on the Word of God night
and day. And when the Notes on the rest of the
New Testament w^ere added, the complete work had
so great a success, that all the countries w^here
the French language is known, and the royal city
more particularly, were filled with it, — the booksellers
could not meet the eagerness of the faithful — un-
numbered editions were published one after another
and instantly taken off; so that we may apply to this
event what is written in the Acts, that the Word of
the Lord grew mightily, and that the number of its
zealous readers increased eveiy day."
Such was th3 effect which the persecution and the
extraordinary merit of the w^ork concurred, under the
blessing of God, to produce.
But further extremities were resorted to by the
Jesuits. The Reflections had been before the world
more than twenty years. Some disturbance had been
made, and the Author had been driven from his coun-
try. But the book had a prodigious sale ; influential
names were attached to it ; it was exciting more and
more the hatred of the human heart on the one hand,
and gaining converts and readers almost innumerable
on the other. Satan would not let this state of things
continue. The real grace of God, though mixed with
error, was maintained, and maintained boldly, in the
Reflections ; man was laid low ; the Saviour was
exalted ; the power of fallen nature to recover itself
was denied ; the Holy Ghost was honoured ; the world
and its pleasures were uncompromisingly exposed ; a
180 QUESNEL.
new and holy life was delineated and insisted on;
heaven and hell were plainly exhibited. This was
enough : nothing could redeem such unpardonable faults
in the eyes of the Jesuits. They could not endure
the strong light thrown on the nature of man, and
the one person of the Saviour. They saw acutely
enough, (though perhaps Quesnel did not,) that such
principles went to undermine Popery. They began
their schemes anew. They attempted to detach the
powerful defenders of Pasquier. The Cardinal de Noailles
was rudely assailed. Quesnel, undaunted, prosecuted
the improvement of his book, and wrote a prodigious
number of occasional pamphlets. He composed also
several larger treatises, on the Priesthood and Sacrifice
of Jesus Christ: — Elevations of Heart towards Jesus
Christ in His Passion and Death ; The Blessedness
of the Christian's Death ; Christian Prayers ; Prayers
to our Saviour Jesus Christ, for Young People and
those who desire to read the Word of God, and especi-
ally the Gospel ; Tradition of the Romish Church on
the Predestination of Saints, and on Efficacious Grace.
These productions only augmented the rage of
his enemies. The impression of their excellence, as
works of piety, may be judged of from what the cele-
brated Father de Tournemine is reported to have said —
" That two pages of the Christian Prayers contained
more real unction than all that had issued from the
pen of the Jesuits, not excepting Bourdaloue."
In the meantime, Quesnel kept himself in privacy
at Brussels. The Jesuits, however, contrived to dis-
cover his retreat ; and persuaded Philip V. of Spain
(whose conscience they directed,) to send an order to
the Bishop of Malines to arrest him. He was now
cast into prison for the Name of Christ; and would
probably have lingered there the rest of his days, if
he had not been rescued by a Spanish gentleman, who
succeeded in penetrating the walls of his prison, and
QUESNEL. 181
in freeing him from his chains. He fled to Amster-
dam, under the protection of the new Protestant States,
who had so gloriously succeeded in establishing their
liberty. He was soon publicly condemned as a heretic,
and a contumacious and seditious person, names ever
ready to be attached to the followers of the humble
Saviour, especially under a superstitious and despotic
government. The court at Rome was next appealed
to, and a decree of Clement XI., condemnatory of the
Eeflections, was obtained. Nothing, however, could
stop the sale. The work spread wider and . wider.
Editions were multiplied. All the world were eager
to read a work so loudly denounced by the Papal chair.
Thus does persecution promote truth. Never would
■Quesnel's Reflections have been read by one thousandth
part of those, who have now, for a century and a half,
been edified by them, unless the Jesuits had pursued
the book with so bitter a hatred.
An arret of council was afterwards obtained from
Louis IV. in order to suppress the work. This was in
1711, after it had been forty years before the world.
At length the Jesuits urged the decrepit and super-
stitious monarch, through Madame de Maintenon, to,
force the court of Rome to enter into a detailed exami-
nation of the book, and thus settle, as they hoped, the
agitated minds of men. Three years were consumed
in details. At last, in 1714, the bull, known by its
first word unigenitus, was issued, in which 101 pro-
positions were extracted from Quesnel, and specifically
condemned as heretical and dangerous, — a step which,
like every other since the fatal Council of Trent, (the
band and chain of Popish errors,) tended to separate
the Church of Rome more and more widely from the
true foundation of the Gospel, and to brand upon her
forehead the broadest marks of departure from the
faith of Christ. The spirit of Rome was never more
graphically delineated, than in her selecting all the
VOL. vm. R
182 QUESNEL.
most express points of the Gospel, and denouncing
them, coolly and avowedly, as heretical and erroneous..
A merely secular policy was so openly followed, both
by the Christian King, as he was termed, and the
supple court which yielded to his interference, that
the truth of the doctrines scarcely came into question.
It was the policy of Rome which was consulted. The
Abbe Renaudot relates, that, on entering once the
cabinet of the pope, who was fond of literary men, he
found him reading Quesnel's book. — " This is an extra-
ordinary performance," said the pontiff; " we have no
one at Rome capable of writing in this manner. I
wish I could have the author by me." — Yet this very
man issued first the decree, and then the bull, which
condemned the work. On the feeble mind of Louis,
superstition and the Jesuits had taken up their seat.
The prince who revoked the edict of Nantz in the
prime of life, was not likely, in the last stage of decrepi'
tude, to resist the influence which sought to overthrow
an individual foe.
But it is more lamentable to observe, that Bossuet
and Fenelon seemed to have joined in the persecution.
The former had, some years before, defended the book ;
but he appears to have shrunk from protecting it or
the author, when popularity took another course. And
Fenelon, the amiable, the lovely, the pious Fenelon,
took an active part in hastening the condemnation at
Rome. His correspondence, lately published, demon-
strates the interest he felt, and exhibits the commenda-
tions he bestowed, with his own hand, on the divine
who drew up the bull. Haughty orthodoxy and mystical
devotion are thus found to yield to the torrent of Papal
authority, and to lend their aid to support a corrupt
and tyrannical Church.
The greatest difficulty was found in obtaining the
reception of the bull. Nine French Bishops, assembled
under the Cardinal de Noailles, determined to wait fo?
QUICK. 188
further information before it was registered. It was
not till 1718, that it was definitely accepted. In the
meantime, all Christendom rang with the praises of
Quesnel's doctrine. Surreptitious editions were multi-
plied ; and the attempt to infix upon the peculiarities
of the Gospel the character of impiety and heresy,
stamped the deepest mark of reprobation on the Church
which issued the condemnation.
Quesnel survived the publication of the bull six years.
These he spent in writing works of piety, and in pre-
paring the edition of the Reflections, which, as we
have observed, appeared in 1727, with all the new
matter which he had noted in the margin of his copy.
Admirable was almost every additional thought; and,
with an undaunted courage, did the venerable saint
persevere in the doctrine of the grace of God. He
employed himself, likewise, in forming Jansenist
Churches at Amsterdam, where he died, December
2nd, 1719, aged 86.
QUICK, JOHN.
John Quick was born at Plymouth, in 1636. He
graduated at Exeter College, Oxford, in 1657, and
entered into holy orders. He officiated at Ermington,
in Devonshire, and at Kingsb ridge and Churchstow,
in the same county; but he afterwards removed to
Brixton, whence he was ejected in 1662. In 1679,
he was chosen pastor of the English Church at Middle-
burgh, in Zealand, whence he returned to England in
1681, where he preached privately during the remain-
der of Charles II. 's reign ; and afterwards, taking ad-
vantage of James's indulgence, he formed a congregation
in Bartholomew-close. He died in 1706.
Quick published :— The Young Man's Claims to the
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; An Answer to that
184 QUISTOKP.
Case of Conscience, Whether it be lawful for a man
to marry his deceased wife's sister? And, Synodicon
in Gallia Reformata, or the Acts, Decisions, Decrees,
and Law of the famous National Councils of the
Reformed Churches in France, &c., London, 1692, fol.,
composed of very interesting and authentic memorials,
collected, probably, while he was in Zealand. It com-
prises a history of the rise and progress of the Reforma-
tion in France down to the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes, in 1685. — Gen. Biog. Diet.
QUIEINI, ATs'GELO MARIA.
Angelo Maria Quirini was born in 1680, or in 1684.
He entered early into an abbey of the Benedictines,
at Florence. Innocent XIIT. created him Archbishop
of Corfu; and Benedict XIII. raised him to the car-
dinalate, after having made him Bishop of Brescia.
To the library of the Vatican he presented his own
collection of books. He published : — De Mosaicse His-
torise Prsestantia ; Primordia Corcyrae ; ex antiquissimis
Monumentis illustrata; Lives of certain Bishops of
Bresse, eminent for sanctity ; Life of Paul II. ; Speci-
men varise Literaturse, quae in Urbe Brixia, ejusque
ditione, paulo post incunabula Typographias florebat ;
An Account of his Travels ; Letters ; Cardinal Pole's
Letters ; and an Edition of St. Ephrem, He died in
1755. — Moreri.
QUISTORP, JOHN.
John Quistoep was born at Rostock in 1584. He
became Professor of Divinity at Rostock in 1614, and
in 1645, Superintendent of the Churches in that District.
He was the friend of Grotius, upon whose death he
RABAN. 185
wrote a Latin letter to Calovius, containing an account
of the sickness and last sentiments of that great man ;
which is inserted in the Bibhotheque Choisie of
Colomies, and in the Vindiciae Grotianae, under the
title of Grotii manes. Professor Quistorp died in 1648,
about the age of 64. He was the author of Anno-
tationes in omnos Libros Biblicos; Commentarius in
Epistolas Sancti Pauli ; Manuductio ad Studium Theo-
logicum ; Articuli Formulse Concordias illustrati ; besides
numerous Sermons, and Dissertations on a variety of
subjects. He had a son of the same name, who was
born at Rostock in 1624, and died in 1669. He became
pastor, professor of divinity, and rector of the univer-
sity in that city, and he signalized himself by his
controversial writings against the Papists. — Moreri.
RABAN, OR RABANUS MAURUS MAGNENTIUS.
The History of Raban is so connected with that of
Gotteschalcus, that the reader is referred to that article
for an account of his public life. He was born in 776,
and Mayence was his native place. He was educated
at the Abbey of Fulda, and thence proceeded to Tours
where he had Alcuin for his tutor. On his return to
Fulda in 810, he was appointed to teach grammar and
rhetoric, and in 822, he was elected Abbot of Fulda.
In 847, he was raised to the archiepiscopal see
of Mayence. In 848, he summoned a council, in
which he procured the condemnation of Gotteschalcus
for maintaining the doctrine of St. Augustine res-
pecting Predestination and Grace, and gave him up
into the custody of Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims.
Raban died in 856. His writings were so popular
that during four centuries, the most eminent of the
Latin divines appealed to them as authority in religious
matters, and adopted almost universally, the sentiments
R 3
186 RAINOLDS.
which they contained. These writings consist of Com-
mentaries in Latin, on many of the books of the Old
and New Testament, and the Apocrypha, which entitle
him to be placed in the first rank of those who under-
took to illustrate the Scriptures by compilations from
the Fathers ; Homilies, in Latin, on the Epistles,
and Gospels ; Scripture Allegories, in Latin, which
secure him, an eminent place among the allegorical
commentators on Scripture; Excerptio de Arte Gram-
matica Priscilliani ; De Universo, Lib. XX. sive Ety-
raologiarum Opus ; De Clericorum Institutione, et
Ceremoniis Ecclesise, Lib. III. ; De Sacris Ordinibus,
Sacramentis Divinis, et Vestimentis Sacerdotalibus,
Lib. ; De Disciplina Ecclesiastica, Lib. III. ; Lib. III.
De videndo Deo, de Puritate Cordis, de Modo
Pcenitentiae ; De Anima et Virtutibus ; Martyrolo-
gium ; Poemata de diversis ; Glossae Latino-barbaricse ;
and De Inventione Linguarum ab Hebraea usque
ad Theodiscam, Lib. ; both edited by Goldast in
the 2nd vol. of his Rerum Alamannicar. Script.
Vet. ; together with numerous other pieces, the subjects
of which may be seen in Cave and Dupin. The
greater part of his works were collected, and published
at Cologne in 1627, by George Colvenerius, in 6 vols,
fol. ; and other pieces, not in that collection, may be
found in Baluze's Miscellanea, among Father Sirmond's
publications, and in the eighth volume of the Collect.
Concil. — Cave. Dupin. Mosheim.
RAINOLDS, OR REYNOLDS, JOHN
John Rainolds was born in the neighbourhood of
Exeter, in 1549, and was educated at Merton College,
Oxford, from which college, he removed to Corpus
Christi, in 1563, where he became a fellow in 1566.
He was distinguished for his anti poppiy zeal, and
RAINOLDS. 187
having taken his D.D. degree, in 1585, he was the
next year appointed to a new Divinity lectureship
instituted by Sir Francis Walsingham. In 1593,
he was made Dean of Lincoln, but in 1598, ex-
changed the Deanery for the Presidentship of Corpus
Christi College.
In 1603, when the Hampton-court conference took
place, we find him ranged on the Puritan side; on
this occasion he was their spokesman, and it may
therefore be necessary to give some account of what he
proposed, as this will enable the reader, in some
measure, to determine how far the Puritans of the
following reign can claim him as their ancestor. At
this conference, he proposed, 1. That the Doctrine
of the Church might be preserved in purity according
to God's Word. 2. That good pastors might be planted
in all Churches, to preach the same. 3. That the
Church-government might be sincerely administered,
according to God's Word. 4. That the book of Common
Prayer might be fitted to the more increase of piety.
With regard to the first, he moved his majesty, that
the Book of Articles of Picligion, concluded in 1659,
might be explained in places obscure, and enlarged
where some things were defective. For example, where-
as, (Article XIII.) the words are these, " After we have
received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from Grace ;"
notwithstanding the meaning may be sound, yet he
desired, that because they may seem to be contrary
to the doctrine of God's Predestination and Election
in the 17th Article, both these words might be ex-
plained with this or the like addition, " yet neither
totally nor finally;" and also that the nine assertions
orthodoxical, as he termed them, i.e. the Lambeth
articles, might be inserted into that book of articles.
Secondly, where it is said in the 23rd Article, that
it is not lawful for any man to take upon him
the office of preaching, or administering the Sacraments
188 RAINOLDS.
in the congregation, before he be lawfully called, Dr.
Rainolds took exception to these words "in the con-
gregation," as implying a lawfulness for any whatsoever,
"out of the congregation," to preach and administer the
Sacraments, though he had no lawful calling thereunto.
Thirdly, in the 25 th Article, these words touching
" Confirmation, grown partly of the corrupt following
the Apostles," being opposite to those in the Collect
of Confirmation in the Communion-book, " upon whom
after the example of the Apostles," argue, said he,
a contrariety, each to other; the first confessing Con-
firmation to be a depraved imitation of the Apostles ;
the second grounding it upon their example, (Acts,
viii. 19,) as if the bishop by confirming of children,
did by imposing of hands, as the Apostles in those
places, give the visible graces of the Holy Ghost.
And therefore he desired that both the contradiction
might be considered, and this ground of Confirmation
examined. Dr. Rainolds afterwards objected to a defect
in the 37th Article, wherein, he said, these words,
" The Bishop of Rome hath no authority in this land,"
were not sufficient, unless it were added, " nor ought
to have," He next moved that this proposition, "the
intention of the minister is not of the essence of the
Sacrament," might be added to the book of Articles, the
rather because some in England had preached it to
be essential. And here again he repeated his request
concerning the nine " orthodoxical assertions," con-
cluded at Lambeth. He then complained that the
Catechism in the Common Prayer-book was too brief;
for which reason, one by Nowell, late Dean of St.
Paul's, was added, and that too long for young novices
to learn by heart. He requested, therefore, that one
uniform Catechism might be made, which, and none
other, might be generally received. He next took
notice of the profanation of the Sabbath, and the
contempt of his majesty's proclamation for reforming
RAINOLDS. 189
that abuse ; and desired some stronger remedy might
be applied. His next request was for a new translation
of the Bible, because those which were allowed in the
reign of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. were cormpt
and not answerable to the original ; of which he gave
three instances. He then desired his majesty, that
unlawful and seditious books might be suppressed, at
least restrained, and imparted to a few. He proceeded
now to the second point, and desired that learned
ministers might be planted in every parish. He next
went on to the fourth point, relating to the Common
Prayer, and complained of the imposing subscription,
since it was a great impediment to a learned ministiy;
and intreated, " that it might not be exacted as for-
merly, for which many good men were kept out,
others removed, and many disquieted. To subscribe
according to the statutes of the realm, namely to
the articles of religion, and the king's supremacy, they
were not unwilling. Their reason of their backward-
ness to subscribe otherwise was, first, the books
Apocryphal, which the Common Prayer enjoined to
be read in the Church, albeit there are, in some of
those chapters appointed, manifest errors, directly
repugnant to the Scriptures. The next scruple against
subscription was, that in the Common Prayer, it is
twice set down, ' Jesus said to His Disciples,' when
as by the text original it is plain, that he spoke
to the Pharisees. The third objection against sub-
scription, were, ' Interrogatories in Baptism,' pro-
pounded to infants," Dr. Rainolds owned "the use
of the Cross to have been ever since the Apostles'
time ; but this was the difficulty, to prove it of that
ancient use in Baptism." He afterwards took exception
at those words in the Office of Matrimony, " With my
body I thee worship ;" and objected against the Church-
ing of women under the name of Purification. Under
the third general head, touching Discipline, he ^ took
190 - RAINOLDS.
exception to the committiDg of ecclesiastical censures
to lay-chancellors. " His reason was, that the statute
made in King Henry's time for their authority that
way was abrogated in Queen Mary's time, and not
revived in the late queen's days, and abridged by the
bishops themselves, 1571, ordering that the said lay-
chancellors should not excommunicate in matters of
correction, and anno 1584 and 1589, not in matters of
instance, but to be done only by them who had the
power of the keys." He then desired, that according
to certain provincial constitutions, they of the clergy
might have meetings, once every three weeks ; first, in
rural deaneries, and therein, to have the liberty of pro-
phesying, according as Archbishop Grindal and other
bishops desired of her late majesty. Secondly, that
such things as could not be resolved upon there, might
be referred from thence to the episcopal synods,
where the bishop with his presbyteri should, deter-
mine all such points as before could not be
decided.
Notwithstanding our author's conduct at this
conference. Dr. Simon Patrick observes, that he
professed himself a conformist to the Church of
England, and died so. He remarks that Dr. Richard
Crakanthorp tells the Archbishop of Spalato, that
the doctor was no Puritan, (as the archbishop called
him). " For first, he professed that he appeared
unwillingly in the cause at Hampton-court, and
merely in obedience to the king's command. And
then he spake not one word there against the
hierarchy. Nay, he acknowledged it to be consonant
to the Word of God, in his conference with Hart.
And in an answer to Sanders's book of the ' Schism
of England' (which is in the archbishop's library,)
he professes that he approves of the book of
' consecrating and ordering bishops, priests, and
deacons.' He was also a strict observer of all the
RANDOLPH. 191
orders of the church and university, both in pubHc
and his own college ; wearing the square cap and
surplice, kneeling at the Sacrament, and he himself
commemorating their benefactors at the time their
statutes appointed, and reading that chapter of Eccle-
siasticus, which is on such occasions used. In a letter
also of his, to Archbishop Bancroft (then in Dr.
Crakenthorp's hands,) he professes himself conformable
to the Church of England, ' willingly, and from his
heart,' his conscience admonishing him so to be.
And thus he remained persuaded to his last breath,
desiring to receive absolution, according to the manner
prescribed in our liturgy, when he lay on his death-
bed ; which he did from Dr. Holland, the king's
professor in Oxford, kissing his hand in token of his
love and joy, and within a few hours after resigned,
up his soul to God."
Wood says, perhaps justly, that the " best matter"
produced by this Hampton-court conference, was the
new translation of the Bible, which is now the
authorized edition. It was begun in 1604, by forty-
seven divines of Westminster and the two universities.
Dr. Rainolds had too much reputation as a Greek
and Hebrew scholar to be omitted from this list. Some
of the prophets appear to have been the portion
allotted to him, but his growing infirmities did not,
it is thought, permit him to do much. The Oxford
translators however used to meet at his lodging once
a week, and compared what they had done in his
company. During this undertaking he was seized
with the consumption of which he died, May 21, 1607,
in the fifty-eighth year of his age. — Wood. Fuller.
Gen. Diet,
EANDOLPH, THOMAS.
Thomas Randolph was born in 1702, at Canter-
192 READING.
bury, and educated at the King's School there, and
at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, of which he
became fellow in 1723. Dr. Potter, Archbishop
of Canterbury, collated him to the united vicarages
of Perham and Waltham in Kent, In 1744, he
published, The Christian's Faith, a rational assent,
in answer to the deistical treatise, entitled, Christianity
not founded on Argument. In 1746, his patron, the
archbishop, collated him to the Rectory of Saltwood,
with the Chapel of Hythe annexed ; and he was soon
after chosen President of Corpus Christi College. In
1753, he published: — The Doctrine of the Trinity, in
answer to the Essay on Spirit. From 1756 to 1759,
he held the office of vice-chancellor; and in 1768, he
was elected to the Margaret professorship of divinity,
on the death of Dr. Jenner. In the preceding year,
he had been promoted to the Arch-deaconry of
Oxford. His last work was on the Citations from
the Old Testament in the New. He died in 1783.
In 1784, a collection of his principal works was
published under the title of, A View of our Blessed
Saviour's Ministry, and the proofs of His Divine
Mission arising from thence. — Life prefixed to his
Works.
READING, JOHN.
John Reading was born in Buckinghamshire, in
1588, and was educated first at Magdalen Hall,
and then at St. Alban Hall, Oxford. In 1616, he
was made minister of St. Mary's, Dover, and was
afterwards appointed one of the chaplains of Charles I.
He was one of those doctrinal Puritans, who opposed,
as much as any Churchman of opposite religious
sentiments, the violent proceedings of the authors
of the rebellion, and had exposed them so frequently
READING. 193
in his sermons, that he was soon marked out for
vengeance. In April, 1642, his library at Dover
was plundered, and in November following, he was
dragged from his house by the soldiers, and impri-
soned for one year and seven months. In January
of the above mentioned year, Archbishop Laud,
then a prisoner in the Tower, had, at his majesty's
request, bestowed on him the living of Chartham
in Kent ; but from that the usurping party took
care he should receive no advantage. He was also
with as little effect, made prebendary of Canterbury.
In 1644, however, Sir William Brockman gave him
the living of Cheriton in Kent, which he was not
only allowed to keep, but was likewise appointed by
the assembly of divines, to be one of the nine
divines who were to write Annotations on the New
Testament for the work afterwards published, and
known by the title of the "Assembly's Annotations."
His sufferings however, were not yet at an end ;
for soon after this apparent favour, upon a suspicion
that he was concerned in a plot for the seizing of
Dover Castle, he was apprehended and carried to
Leeds Castle, where he was imprisoned for some time.
In March, 1650, he held a public disputation in Folk-
stone Church with Fisher, an Anabaptist, who argued
against the necessity of ordination, and quoted as
his authority, some passage in Bishop Taylor's
" Discourse of the liberty of Prophesying," which
obliged Mr. Heading to write a tract on the subject.
On the restoration, when Charles II. landed at Dover,
Mr. Reading was deputed by the corporation to
address his majesty, and present him with a large
Bible with gold clasps, in their name. He was now
replaced in the Prebend of Canterbury, and the living
of Chartham. Here he died, October 26, 1667, and
was buried in the chancel of the church.
He published several occasional sermons from 1623 to
VOL VIII. s
194 EEDMAYNE.
J 663; and 1. Brief instructions concerning the Holy
Sacrament, London, 1645, 8vo. 2. A Guide to the
holy City, Oxon. 1651, 4to. 3. An Antidote to Anabap-
tism, 1654, 4to. It was in this he animadverted on
those passages of Bishop Taylor's Discourse, which
seemed to favour irregular preaching. 4. An Evening
Sacrifice, or Prayers for a family in these times of
calamity. 5. Speech made before King Charles II.
on the shore, when he landed at Dover, &c., 1660,
single sheet, with verses. Mr. Reading left several
manuscripts, partly in the hands of Basil Kennet,
whence they passed to his son, White Kennet. — Wood.
Watkins. Fuller.
REDMAN, or REDMAYNE, JOHN.
John Redman, or Redmatne, was born in Yorkshire,
in 1499, and was educated at Corpus Christi College,
Oxford, and afterwards at Paris. On returning to
England he settled at St. John's College, Cambridge,
of which he became a fellow in 1521.
For above twenty years he carefully applied himself
to the study of the Holy Scriptures ; and always began
and ended his studies with humble and earnest prayer
to Almighty God, to guide him into the knowledge of
the truth, and to preserve him from all dangerous errors
and delusions. His prayers found access to the throne
of grace ; and God opened his eyes to discern those
errors which he had been led into by the prejudice of
education ; and when the truth was thus discovered
to him, he embraced it in the love thereof, and con-
tinued a stedfast professor, and zealous defender of it,
unto the end.
As he found transubstantiation to be the received
doctrine, he was for som^ time very much disturbed,
whenever he heard it disputed and contradicted; and
REDMAYNE. 195
taking up a resolution to write in defence of it, he
carefully examined the Scriptures, and made a diligent
search into the writings of the fathers, for materials
towards his w^ork. The result of his inquiry was, that
he found this doctrine to have no foundation in Scrip-
ture and the purest antiquity, but to be an invention
of the schoolmen in the dark and later ages, and clogged
with infinite contradictions, and inexplicable absurdities.
Upon this, his zeal for it expired at once, and he
preached in the university against it, and against the
superstitious custom of carrying the Host in pro-
cession.
He was at first a sti^nuous opposer of the doctrine
of justification by faith alone, because he feared it
destroyed the necessity of good works, and saw how
it had been perverted by some of the Anabaptists, to
build most detestable and blasphemous heresies upon.
But when he had carefully perused the writings of our
reformed divines on that subject, and observed with what
exactness they had stated the doctrine of justification,
and guarded it from the least tendency to any of those
pernicious consequences, he declared himself convinced,
and confessed his conviction to King Henry, whose
chaplain he then was.
In 1537, he commenced doctor of divinity, and about
that time was chosen orator of the university. In 154U,
he was made Prebendary of Westminster, of which
church he is by several of our historians said to have
been dean ; but upon careful examination, this seems
to be a mistake. He was for some time Master of
King's Hall; and in 1546, on the dissolution of that
Hall, was advanced to be the'*first Master of Trinity
(JoUege, by the Charter of erection. In this station he
was a great promoter of the exact knowledge of the Greek
and Latin tongues ; and was so exceeding liberal to poor
students, that there were few industrious men in that
university, who did not receive a comfortable support
196 REDMAYNE.
from his bounty. He was very kind in particular to
that learned foreigner, Martin Bucer, notwithstanding
their disagreement in some points of religion, in which
he thought Bucer's zeal against Popery carried him
into the contrary extreme ; and in a sermon which he
preached at his funeral, did justice to his memory, and
detracted nothing from his due praise.
When he was taken ill of his last sickness at West-
minster, finding himself decay apace, he sent for Dr.
Alexander Nowell, afterwards Dean of St. Paul's, and
some other of the reformed divines ; and to prevent any
misrepresentations after his death, made before them,
a large declaration of his judgment concerning the chief
controversies of those times, which he desired them to
attest. The most remarkable particulars of which were
these : —
1. That Christ is really present in the Sacrament of
the Altar, in an ineffable manner, to those who receive
it worthily ; that we receive Him in our minds and souls
by faith ; and that to speak otherwise, savours of the
gross error of the Capernaites.
2. That the wicked are not partakers of the Body and
Blood of Christ, but that they receive the outward Sacra-
ment only.
3. That nothing which is seen, or perceived by any
outward sense, in the Sacrament, is to be worshipped ;
and that at the Holy Supper we must \vorship Christ in
heaven, but not the visible elements.
4. That purgatory, as taught by the schoolmen, was
an ungodly and pernicious doctrine, and that there was
no such place.
5. That offering masses is an irreligious, unprofitable,
and superstitious usage.
6. That the marriage of the clergy is not prohibited
by any law of Christ.
7. That to build our faith on the consent of the pre-
KEDMAYNE. 197
sent Church, is but a weak and sandy foundation ; and
that the Scriptures are the only rule of faith.
8. That the See of Rome had in many things swerved
from God's true religion and worship, and was so griev-
ously and horribly stained and polluted, that without
speedy repentance, God's righteous vengeance would
suddenly overtake and consume it.
This declaration is a full proof, that Strype is
under a great mistake, in asserting that this illustrious
ornament of our Reformed Church died in the Roman
Communion.
When Dr. Redmayne had finished his declaration, he
discoursed more largely on some of these points, and
that in so pathetic and affecting a manner, that Dr.
Young, one of the divines there present, who was not
then entirely come otf from the prejudices of his educa-
tion, declared that he was so moved and convinced, that
he now doubted of the truth of some things for which
before he would have suffered martyrdom.
After this, Dr. Redmayne's whole discourse was of the
joys of heaven, the last judgment, and of our redemption
through the merits of Jesus Christ, with Whom he
earnestly longed to be. He would often, with tears of
joy, praise and extol the ineffable love of our gracious
Redeemer to us miserable sinners; and exhorted his
friends to be always prepared for Christ's coming, to
love one another, to beware of this corrupt world, and
entirely to wean their affections from its transitory-
glories, and deceitful pleasures. He bore his sickness
with the greatest patience, and a perfect resignation to
the will of God, whether for life or death, yet he wished
rather, if it were God's blessed will, to be dissolved and
to be with Christ, and to be delivered from the troubles
and temptations of this miserable world. He practised,
to the utmost perfection, all those virtues and graees,
which he was wont to recommend to others in this
condition ; and when be found his end approaching, he
198 REGIUS;
broke out into this fervent prayer : — " Thy will, O
blessed Lord, be fulfilled ; 0 God of all comfort, give
me grace to have comfort in Thee, and to have m)'
mind wholly fixed on Thee." And after a short pause,
he added, " God grant us grace, that we have a true
understanding of His Word, the true use of His Sacra-
ments, and ever preach and maintain the truth, to the
glory of His most holy Name." Then he offered up
another short petition for the unity of the Church, and
soon after resigned his pious and holy soul to God.
He died in November, 1551, in the fifty-second year
of his age, and was buried in the north isle of West-
minster Abbey.
He wrote a Latin Treatise of Justification, and ano-
ther concerning Grace, which were published after his
death. — Doivnes.
EEGIUS, URBAN.
Urban Regius, properly called Le Roi, was born at
Langenargen, and studied at Lindau, Fribourg, Basle,
and Ingoldstadt. At the latter place, he was under the
tuition of Eck. (See his Life.) Here Regius read
lectures, but unfortunately was induced to superintend
the education of some j^ouths of noble families, and
provided them with books and other necessaries, which
their parents neglecting to pay, he was obliged to give
up what little property he had for the benefit of his
creditors, and in despair of assistance to carry on his
studies, enlisted as a common soldier. In this plight,
however, he happened to be discovered by Eck, who
procured his discharge, and prevailed on the parents
of his pupils to discharge all arrears due to him.
Urban then returned to his studies, and became so
distinguished, that the Emperor Maximilian, passing
through Ingoldstadt, made him his poct-laureat
REGIUS. 199
and orator ; and he was afterwards made professor of
poetry and oratory in that university. But, having
applied to the study of divinity, he engaged with warmth
and assiduity in the controversies of the times, particu-
larly in that between Luther and Eck, in which he
inclined to Luther ; but unwilling to give personal
offence to his preceptor and good friend Eck, he left
Ingoldstadt ' and went to Augsburg, where, at the
importunity of the magistrates and citizens, he under-
took the government of the Church. Here he departed
farther and farther from the errors of Popery, and
soon joined with Luther in preaching against them.
In his opinion, however, concerning the Lord's Supper
and original sin, he sided, for a time, with Zuinglius,
in consequence of a correspondence in which that refor-
mer explained to him the grounds of his belief. In his
preaching against errors so general as those of Popery
then were, he met with much opposition, but appears to
have been supported by some of the principal citizens,
one of whom bestowed on him his daughter, by whom
he had thirteen children. Eck, both by letters and by
the intervention of friends, endeavoured to gain him
back to the Church, but his principles were fixed, and
he resisted both flatteries and promises.
In 1530, there was a Diet held at Augsburg, at
which the Duke of Brunswick was present, who pre-
vailed on Piegius to go to Lunenburg in his dominions,
to take care of the Church there. The duke highly
esteemed him, and declared to the people of Augsburg,
who petitioned for his return, that he would as soon
part with his eyes as with Regius, and made him chief
pastor of all the Churches in his dominions, with an
ample and liberal salary. Here he passed the greater
part of a useful and active life in preaching, writing,
and religious conferences. He died May 23rd, 1541,
when on a journey with the Duke to Haguenau ; the
place of his death is said to be Zell ; but we have no
OOO EEMIGIUS.
account of his age. He had often wished that he might
die a sudden and eas}^ death, which happened to be
the case. His works were collected in 3 vols., folio.
The first two contain the pieces he published in Latin,
the other his German compositions. The last volume
was afterwards translated into Latin, and published
under the title of " Vita et Opera Urbani Regii, reddita
per Ernest. Regium," Norib. 1562. Some of his pieces
were translated in the 16th century into English, as
" The Sermon which Christ made on His way to Emmaus
&c." 1578, 4to; "A Declaration of the Twelve Articles
of the Christen Faythe, &c." 1548; "An Instruccyon
of Christen Fayth, &c." 15b8, translated by Fox the
martyrologist ; " The Olde Learnyng and the New
compared, &c." 1548, 8vo; "Exposition on the 87th
Psalm," 1594, 8vo ; "A Homily of the good and evil
Angell, &c." 1590, 8vo, and others. Besides what are
included in the three volumes mentioned above, John
Freder of Pomerania published, after the author's death,
a work of his, entitled " Loci Theologici ex patribus
et scholasticis neotericisque collecti."
EEMIGIUS.
Remigius was a native of Gaul, and was made grand
almoner to the Emperor Lotharius. About 853 or
854, upon the death of Amolo, that monarch promoted
him to the archiepiscopal See of Lyons. He was one
of the most strenuous and able defenders of the doc-
trine of Gotteschalchus, or rather of St. Augustine, on
the subjects of Grace and Predestination, among the
contemporaries of that monk. In 855, he presided in the
Council at Valence, which confirmed that doctrine, and
passed a sentence of condemnation on the canons
against Gotteschalchus, ( see his life,) which had been
decreed by the Council of Quiercy six years before. In
RENNIGER. 201
859, he presided in a Synod at Langres, which confirmed
the canons of the Council of Valence, and condemned
the propositions of John Scotus Erigena, relating to
Predestination. He died in 875. Such of his works
as are extant, may be found in the fifteenth vokune
of the Bibl. Patr., and the first Yolume of Maguin's
Collect. Script, de Prsedestinat. et Gratia. To Remigius,
Archbishop Usher has attributed that Commentary
upon the Epistles of St. Paul, which is given with
his name in the Bibl. Patr., but which ought rather
to be ascribed to Haymo.
EEMIGIUS OF AUXERRE.
Remigius of Auxeree derived his surname from the
Abbey of St. Germain at Auxerre, where he was placed
at the head of the schools belonging to his monastery.
About 822, he was called to Rheims by Foulques, the
successor of Hincmar in that see, who gave him the
direction of the literary seminary which he had founded
in his metropolitan city. He is said to have afterwards
gone to Paris, where he opened the first public school
in that city. He died about 900. He was the author
of Commentarius in omnes Davidis Psalmos, which
was published at Cologne in 1536, and chiefly consists
of the opinions and explications of St. Ambrose, St.
Augustine, and Cassiodorus, reduced into one mass ;
Enarratio in posteriores XT. minores Prophetas, pub-
lished at Antwerp in 1545, with the Commentaries of
Oecumenius upon the Acts of the Apostles and their
Epistles, and those of Arethas upon the book of Reve-
lation ; and Expositio Missse.
RENNIGER, MICHAEL.
Michael Renniger was a native of Hampshire, where
202 REYNOLDS.
he was born in 1529. He was a fellow of Magdalen
College, Oxford, whence he was expelled by Bishop
Gardiner, on account of his attachment to the prin-
ciples of the Reformation. He was an exile for religion
in Mary's reign and resided chiefly at Strasburg, On
the accession of Elizabeth, he was made one of her
chaplains, and proved a zealous champion for the
Reformation. He became a prebendary of Winchester,
and obtained the Rectory of Crawley, near that city.
In 1567, he was installed precentor and prebendary
of Lincoln. In 1573, he took his degrees in divinity,
and in 1575, was made Archdeacon of Winchester.
In 1583, he had the prebend of Reculverland, in
the Church of St. Paul, London. He died in 1609.
His works are : — Carmina in mortem duorum Fra-
trum Suffolciensium, Henrici et Caroli Brandon; De
Pii V. et Gregorii XIII. furoribus contra Elizabe-
tham Reginam Anglias ; An Exhortation to True
Love, Loyalty, and Fidelity to Her Majesty ; Syn-
tagma hortationum ad Jacobem Regem Anglise. He
also translated from Latin into English, Bishop
Poynet's Apology or Defence of Priests' Marriages. —
Strype.
REYNOLDS, EDWARD.
Edward Reynolds was born of humble parents, at
Southampton, in the year 1599. His education began
in the Free Grammar School of his native town. At
the usual age, he was removed to Merton College?
Oxford, of which society, he became a postmaster in
1615, and in 1620, a probationed fellow. The latter
preferment he obtained by his proficiency in the
Greek language, and his eminent talents as a dis-
putant and orator. After he had taken the degree of
master of arts, he entered into orders, and was
REYNOLDS. 203
chosen preacher to the honourable society of Lincoln's
Inn. He was also preferred to the Rectory of Brauns-
ton, in Northamptonshire.
When the unhappy differences between Charles
the First and his parliament, issued in the civil
war which for many years afflicted the nation, Mr.
Reynolds joined the Presbyterian party, and in 1643,
was appointed one of the assembly of divines which
met at Westminster, avowedly to settle the contro-
versies that distracted the people, but in fact to
establish Presbyterianism on the ruins of the Epis-
copal Church. During this period, he was a frequent
preacher before the long parliament, and stood so
high in their estimation, that he was named one of
the seven divines, who were sent to Oxford with
authority to supersede the preachers appointed by the
university, and to bring that city to a more favour-
able view of the parliamentary cause. In the following
year he became one of the visitors of the university
and soon afterwards, he was chosen vice-chancellor,
and, by a mandate from the parliament, was created
doctor in divinity. His next promotion was to the
Deanery of Christ Church.
Hitherto Dr. Reynolds had acted with the adherents
of the parliament, but he was neither their servile,
nor an unprincipled instrument. When called on to
subscribe to the engagement, "to be true and faith-
ful to the commonwealth of England, without a
king and a house of lords," he refused to give the
disloyal pledge, and was consequently deprived of his
recently acquired honour. From this time, he appears
to have resided chiefly in London, where, as vicar
of St. Lawrence, Jewry, he faithfully discharged his
ministerial duties, and though neglected by the
independent rulers of the state, was very highly
esteemed by his Presbyterian brethren, and by the
country at large.
•204 RIBADENEIRA.
When General Monk marched his troops to Lon-
don, with the design of establishing a free parliament
and restoring the monarchical government, Dr. Rey-
nolds entered heartily into his views, and used his
interest, which was now very considerable, to bring
about the desired change. After the vote for recalling
the king, had passed the new parliament, the Pres-
byterian ministers deputed a number of their body
to wait on his majesty in Holland. Of this number
Dr. Reynolds was one, and his zeal in the royal
cause was not forgotten. On the king's arrival in
England, he was appointed one of his chaplains,
and in 1660, w^as elected warden of Merton College,
and consecrated Bishop of Norwich. As soon as
the government was peaceably settled, he retired to
his diocese, in which he constantly resided till his
death, which took place at Norwich, in 1676, in the
seventy-seventh year of his age. — Life prefixed to
Sermons.
EIBADENEIRA, PETER.
Peter Ribadeneira was born at Toledo in 1527,
and in 1540, he became a favourite disciple of the
founder of the Jesuits, {see Life of Loyola.) In
1542, he studied at Paris, and was afterwards em-
ployed in promoting the interests of the Jesuits, in
various parts of Europe. He accompanied the Duke
of Feria to England in 1558 ; and his inquiries
here, or what he made subsequently, encouraged him
to publish a treatise, On the English Schism, 1594,
8vo. He is, however, chiefly known for his Lives of
various Saints and Jesuits, and as the founder of
that biography of the Jesuits, which Alegambe and
others afterwards improved into a work of some
importance. One of his principal Lives, published
RICCA. 305
separately, is that of the founder, St. Ignatius de
Loyola. His Lives of the Saints, ( Ignatius Loyola,
Francis Borgia, Lainez, Salmeron, &c.) were translated
into English, and published in 2 vols. 8vo. He also
wrote, The Christian Prince, a refutation of The
Prince of Macchiavelli. He died at Madrid in 1611. —
Biog. Universelle.
EIBERA, FRANCIS DE.
Francis de Ribeea was born at Villacaslin in 1537,
and was educated at Salamanca. He became a
Jesuit in 1570. From this time he was employed
by his superiors in interpreting the Scriptures,
and filled the chair of professor of divinity in their
seminary at Salamanca till his death in 1591. His
works are : — Commentarii in XII. Prophetas Minores ;
Sensum eorundem Prophetarum historicum et moralem,
ssepe etiam AUegoricum complacentes ; Commentarii
Historic! selecti in XII. Prophetas Minores ; In
Sacrum Jesu Christi Evangelium secundum Jo-
annem ; In Epistolam ad Hebrgeos ; In Sacram B.
Joannis Apostoli et Evangelistse Apocalypsin ; De
Templo et iis quae ad Templum pertinent, Lib. V.
1593, 8vo ; and. The Life of St. Theresa, foundress
of the reformed order of the barefooted Carmelites.—
Moreri.
RICCI, MATTHEW.
Matthew Ricci was born in 155Q, at Macerata in
the March of Ancona. He became a Jesuit at 19
years of age. He had not completed his theological
studies, when he followed to the East Indies his pre-
ceptor father Valignan. During his abode at Goa he
applied assiduously to the language of China, to which
VOL. VIII, T
^06 RICCA.
country he was destined. He was furnished with
another branch of knowledge necessary in that mission,
that of mathematics, which he had acquired at Rome,
under the celebrated Clavius. In 1583, he arrived at
Caoquin, in the province of Canton, where he settled
with some brethren. To ingratiate himself with the
Chinese, he made a map of the world, in which,
whilst he corrected their prejudices with respect to the
relative dimensions of their country, he complied with
them by altering the meridian, so as to place it in
the centre. With a similar spirit of compliance, he
drew up a Chinese catechism, containing only the
precepts of morality and natural religion ; judging
that to present to them the mysteries of the Catholic
faith, without previous preparation would only serve
to inspire them with repugnance. His policy, however,
did not prevent him from undergoing some persecu-
tions in consequence of Chinese suspicion ; and it was
not till 1600, that he was able to gain access to the
emperor at Peking, employing the pretext of bringing
him a present of curiosities from Europe. He was well
received, and permitted to settle in that capital, where
his mathematical skill rendered him acceptable to the
court and men of letters. He purchased a house there
and built a church ; and the progress, such as it was,
which Christianity made in the metropolis of China,
was greatly owing to his exertions. He died there in
1010, leaving curious memoirs on China, of which
Father Trigault made use in his work " De Christiana
expeditione apud Sinas." In the " Lettres Edifiantes"
is a dialogue between a lettered Chinese and an
European, on the necessity of a first cause. Father
Orleans, in a life of this missionary, speaks of him
as an apostle, a saint, another Xavier. He seems
indeed, to have possessed all the indefatigable zeal of
his profession, joined to the peculiar policy of his
order. — Moreri. Aiken.
RICHARD OF ARMAGH. 207
RICHARD OF ARMAGH.
Richard, Archbishop of Armagh, whose real name was
Fitz-Ralph, aud whose historical name is Armachanus,
was bom, according to some, in Devonshire, and ac-
cording to others, at Dimdalk, in the county of Louth.
He was educated at Oxford, first at University and then
at Balliol Colleges. He commenced D.D., and in 1333
was commissary-general of that university. His first
Church promotion was to the chancellorship of the
Church of Lincoln, in July, 1334 ; he was next made
Archdeacon of Chester in 1336, and Dean of Lichfield
in the following year. While at Oxford he had dis-
tinguished himself by his opposition to the Mendicant
friars, whose affectation of poverty, and other super-
stitions and irregularities, he exposed in his lectures.
In 1347, he was advanced to the Archbishopric of
Armagh. The friars were so incensed at this exposure
of them, that they procured him to be cited before
Innocent VI. at Avignon, where he defended his
opinions with great firmness.
He wrote two Tracts against the Friars Mendicant;
one of them entitled, A Defence of the Curates against
the Mendicants ; and the other, De Audientia Confes-
sionum. His Treatise in the Defence of Parish Priests
is nothing but the Discourse which he made before the
pope and cardinals at Avignon. It begins with this
text: "Judge not according to the appearance, but
judge righteous judgment." And here, the archbishop
declares, he had no intention to oppose any doctrine of
the Church, neither did he desire the dissolution of the
Friars' order, but only to bring up their practice to their
institution. From hence he proceeds to relate the sub-
ject and occasion of the dispute. He reports, that being
at London, he met with some doctors engaged in a
discourse about the poverty of our Saviour and His,
^08 KICHARD OF ARMAGH.
Apostles. That being invited to preach upon this sub-
ject, he laid down nine conclusions in seven or eight
sermons, at which the Friars Mendicant took check,
and brought a frivolous complaint against him before
his holiness. His nine conclusions are these : —
First, — That if a question be moved about making
confessions with respect to place ; in this case, the
parish church is to be preferred before that of the friars.
Secondly, — That the parishioners ought rather to apply
to a parson or curate for confession than to a friar.
Thirdly, — That notwithstanding our Lord Jesus Christ
was poor when He conversed upon earth, yet it does
not appear that He affected poverty.
Fourthly, — That our Lord Jesus Christ did never beg,
nor make profession of voluntary poverty.
Fifthly, — That our Saviour never taught people to
make a choice and profession of beggary.
Sixthly, — That Christ our Lord held the contrary, that
men ought not to beg by inclination, nor without being
forced to it by necessity.
Seventhly, — That there is neither sense nor religion
in vowing voluntary and perpetual beggary.
Eighthly, — That it is not agreeable to the rule of the
Friars Minorites to be under engagements of voluntary
poverty.
Ninthly, — That the Bull of Alexander IV., which con-
demned the Libel of the Masters of Paris, censured none
of these seven last conclusions.
This Discourse is followed with a sort of Memorial
which he delivered in to the pope's commissioners. The
purport of it is to reply to the reasons which the priors
alledged to justify their begging. He likewise laid ano-
ther Paper before the cardinal commissioners, containing
a recital of the abuses committed by the begging friars
in their preaching, confessions, and devotions.
Fie died in 1360, at Avignon, not without suspicion
of poison. Fox says that a certain cardinal, hearing
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR. 209
of his death, declared openly, that a mighty pillar of
Christ's Church was fallen. His works are : — Sermones
quatuor, ad Crucem Londinensem ; Defensio Curatorum
adversus Fratres Mendicantes, Paris, 1496. Fox, in
his Martyrology, asserts that the whole Bible was trans-
lated into Irish by him, and preserved in the sixteenth
century ; and Archbishop Usher says that there were
several fragments of this translation in Ireland in his
time. — Collier. Wharton s Ai^pendix to Cave.
EICHARD OF ST. VICTOR.
Richard of St. Victor was a native of Scotland, edu-
cated at Paris, w'hen he studied under Hugh de St,
Victor, and became one of the canons regular of St.
Augustine of the Abbey of St. Victor. In 1164, he was
elected prior of his monastery ; where he died in the
year 1173, equally respected for his virtues as for his
learned attainments. Concerning his merits as a writer
Dupin observes, " that he shews a great deal of subtlety
in his theological treatises, and argues methodically,
with an exactness becoming an able logician. His
critical pieces are very accurate, for the time in which
he lived. His style, however, is not very elevated ; on
which account his pious treatises, though abounding
in excellent matter, are greatly deficient in weight and
energy."
His works consist of critical observations and remarks
on some of the historical parts of the Old Testament,
relating to the tabernacle, and the temple of Solomon ;
allegorical and moral " Commentaries " on several of the
Psalms, the Song of Songs, and the Apocalj^pse ; Ques-
tions on certain difficult passages of St. Paul's Epistles
and other parts of the Bible, part of which is printed
among the works of Hugh St. Victor; and numerous
critical, doctrinal, and practical treatises, which are par-
T 3
no RICHARDSON.
ticularized in the two first of our authorities. The
whole of them have been frequently printed in a col-
lective form ; and the best edition is said to be that
of Rouen, in 1650, in 2 vols, folio. — Cave. Diqnn.
RICHARDSON, JOHN.
John Richardson was an Irish prelate, of whose early-
life little is known, except that he was born in Chester
and educated at Dublin. He was consecrated to the
See of Ardagh in 1633. In 1641, being in dread of
the rebellion which broke out in October of that year,
he removed to England, and died in London in 1654.
He was a man of profound learning, well versed in the
Scriptures, and skilled in sacred chronology. His works
are : — A Sermon of the doctrine of Justification ; and
Choice Observations and explanations upon the Old
Testament, 1655, fol. These Observations, which extend
to all the books of the Old Testament, seem intended
as a supplement to the Assembly's Annotations, in
■which he wrote the Annotations on Ezekiel ; and they
were prepared for publication by him some time before
his death, at the express desire of Archbishop Usher,
with whom he appears to have long lived in intimacy. —
Harris's Ware.
RICHARDSON, WILLIAM.
William Richardson was born in 1 698, at Wilsham-
stead, near Bedford, and educated at Westminster, and
at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was appointed
Curate of St. Olave's, Southwark, which he held until
1726, when he was chosen lecturer of that parish. He
published in 1727, the Praelectiones Ecclesiasticae of his
uncle, John Richardson, author of a Vindication of the
EICHER. 211
Canon of the New Testament, against Toland. In 1724,
he was collated to the Prebend of Welton-Rivall, in the
Cathedral of Lincoln. In 1730, he published. The Use-
fulness and Necessity of Revelation ; in four Sermons,
preached at St. Olave's, Southwark, 8vo; and in 1733,
Relative Holiness, a Sermon preached at the Consecra-
tion of the Parish Church of St. John's, Southwark.
He next undertook, at the request of Bishops Gibson
and Potter, to publish a new edition of Godwin de
Praesulibus (which api:)eared in J 743, fol.) He then
returned to Cambridge, for the convenience of the
libraries, and more easy communication with his
learned contemporaries; and in 1735, he proceeded
D. D. In 1736, he was chosen master of Emmanuel
College; and he served the office of vice-chancellor in
1738, and again in 1769.. In 1746, he was appointed
chaplain to the king. He was named in the will of
Archbishop Potter to a precentorship of Lincoln ; which
however, was contested with him by Archbishop Pot-
ter's chaplain Dr. Chapman. The lord-keeper Henley
decided in favour of Chapman ; but on Dr. Richard-
son's appeal to the House of Lords, the decree was
reversed. Burn has inserted a full account of this
cause in his Ecclesiastical Law. Dr. Richardson died
in 1775. He was a member of the Society of Anti-
quaries, and left in M.S. some valuable collections
relative to the constitution of the university ; many
biographical anecdotes, preparatory to an Athente
Cantabrigienses, which he once intended to publish ;
and an alphabetical list of all the graduates of the
university from 1500 to 1735 inclusive. — Gen. Biog.
Diet.
RICHER, EDMUND.
Edmund Richer was born at Chaource, in the diocese
212 RICHER.
of Langres, in the year 15 GO. He studied divinity
at the University of Paris, where he was admitted a
member of the house and society of the Sorbonne, and
performed the exercises for his licentiate in 1587,
with great reputation. At the same time he taught
the logical class in the College of Cardinal le Moine.
Possessing a bold and impetuous spirit, he was enticed
to join the party, and to embrace the sentiments of
the league ; and he had even the hardihood, in one
of his theses, to express his approbation of the
murder of Henry the Third by James Clement. His
opinions, however, soon underwent a radical change, and
he was induced from motives of genuine patriotism,
to espouse the cause of Henry IV. No sooner had
he taken the degree of doctor, in 1590, than he
openly declared in favour of that prince, and distin-
guished himself by his activity and success in bringing
back the faculty to their duty. In 1594, he was
made grand master and principal of the College of
Cardinal le Moine. In 1600, he made his first
appearance from the press, as editor and translator
into French, of Tertullian's book "DePallio." About
the year 1605, he began to print an edition of the
works of John Gerson, or Charlier, that bold defender
of the authority of general councils above that of the
Pope, (see his Life;) but 'he was prevented from
publishing them for some time, by the interposition
of the papal nuncio at Paris. This circumstance did
not deter him from defending the opinions of Gerson,
for whom he wrote an "Apology," which he caused
to be published in Germany, and which was after-
wards connected with his edition of that author's
works. In the year 1608, Richer was elected syndic
of the faculty of divinity at Paris; and while he held
that office, he distinguished himself by the zeal and
spirit which he discovered in support of the ancient
privileges of the Galilean clergy. In the year 1611,
HIGHER. 213
at the request of Nicholas de Verdun, first president
of the Parliament of Paris, he published his treatise
•* De Potestate Ecclesiae in Rebus Temporalibus," 4to.
by way of answer to the thesis of a Dominican of
Cologne, who maintained the infallibility of the Pope,
and his superiority to a general council. This pro-
duction made a considerable noise, and excited against
Richer the intrigues of the nuncio, and of some
doctors devoted to the Court of RomCj who endeavoured
to procure his deposition from the syndicate, together
with the condemnation of his book by the faculty of
divinity ; but the parliament prevented the faculty
from passing their censure upon it^ Notwithwstanding
the interference of that body, Cardinal du Perron
assembled eight bishops of his province at Paris, in
the year 1612, who condemned the work. Against
their judgment as partial and improperly obtained,
Richer entered an appeal before the parliament, which
was registered according to the customary forms ; but
no further proceedings on the subject took place in
that court.
That Richer's book should be proscribed at Rome,
was naturally to be expected ; and the papal anathema
was speedily followed by that of the Archbishop of
Aix, and of three of his suffragans. Immediately
afterwards, a crowd of writers entered the lists against
the obnoxious work, whose patrons procured an express
order from court, that the author should not publish
anything in its defence. Not satisfied with having
thus silenced him, his enemies availed themselves of
their influence with the higher powers, to obtain letters
of command from the king and queen regent to the
faculty of divinity, enjoining them to choose another
syndic. Against this arbitrary attack on the privileges
of the faculty. Richer publicly protested ; after which
having first read a written defence of himself and his
opinions, he withdrew from his post. From this
214 RICHER.
time be ceased to attend the meetings at the Sor-
bonne, and shut himself up chiefly in solitude,
occupied in study and the composition of works which
were not published before his death. His enemies,
however, would not suffer him to pursue his labours
in peace, but by their interest procured his arrest,
and commitment to the prison of St. Victor. They
would even have delivered him up to the Pope, had
not the parliament and the Chancellor of France
prevented them, on the complaint of the University
against their proceedings. Still his enemies continued
their persecution; and in the year 1620, he was
pressed to publish a declaration condemning his book.
This he was determined not to do ; but he made a
declaration of his readiness to explain the propositions
which it contained in a catholic sense, adding, more-
over, that he submitted his work to the judgment of
the holy see and of the Catholic Church. Afterwards
he made a second declaration to the same purport.
In 1629, he reprinted his treatise "De Potestate,"
accompanied with such a comment as he thought
might prove satisfactory, and the two declarations
just mentioned. The Court of Rome, however, de-
manding a more explicit retractation of his doctrine,
Cardinal Richelieu determined that he should sign a
third declaration drawn up by an apostolic notary
who was sent to Paris for that purpose by the
pope. Violence, it is said, was resorted to, to compel
compliance, which hastened the old man's death,
which occurred in 1631. He left behind him several
works, which discover extensive learning, great discern-
ment, much critical skill, and a commendable boldness
in exploding the prejudices of the schools. Mosheim
honourably distinguishes him from his contemporaries,
by observing that he " was the only doctor in the
University of Paris who followed the literal sense and
the plain and natural signification of the words of
RIDLEY. 215
Scripture; while all the other commentators and
interpreters, imitating the pernicious example of several
ancient exj)ositors, were always racking their brains
for mysterious and sublime significations, where none
such were, nor could be designed by the sacred writers."
Besides the articles already mentioned, he was the
author of Vindicise Doctrinas Majorum, de Auctori-
tate Ecclesiae in Rebus Fidei et Morum ; De Optimo
Academiae Statui ; and Obsterix Animorum. After
his death were published from his M.S.S., Notes on
the Censure of the Books of Mark Anthony de Domi-
nis by the Sorbonne ; A History of General Councils
in Latin, printed at Cologne in 1682, in 3 vols. 4to ;
and a History of the Syndicate of Edmund Richer,
written by himself. He also left behind him in M.S.
A History of Joan of Arc, or The Maid of Orleans,
in 4 vols, fol., of which the Abbe Lenglet made free
use in composing his History of Joan of Arc. —
Moreri. Aiken.
RIDLEY, NICHOLAS.
It is a matter of regret that within the compass of
an article in this work, it is impossible to give an
adequate account of this illustrious saint and martyr
of the Church of England. Suffice it to say that
in every relation of life, the power of his intellect, the
integrity of his principles, and the piety of his heart were
conspicuous. For the public affairs and general history
of the Church at this period, the reader is referred
to the Life of Cranmer. Welmontswick, in Tynedale,
in the county of Northumberland, had the honour of
•being the birth place of Nicholas Ridley, at the beginning
of the sixteenth century. He was educated in a gram-
mar school at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and thence pro-
ceeded to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. When he came
216 RIDLEY.
to Cambridge, about the year 1518, he found it in some
disturbance, occasioned by setting up the pope's indul-
gences upon the school-gates, over which was written
this verse of the Psalmist, " Blessed is the man that
hath set his hope in the Lord : and turned not unto
the proud, and to such as go about with lies." (Psa. xl.)
The person who stuck it up, (though then unknown)
was excommunicated by the chancellor of that university,
Bishop Fisher; it seems it was one Peter de Valence,
a Norman. Here Ridley had an oportunity of learning
the Greek tongue, at the public lectures of Richard
Crook, who about that time began to teach it in Cam-
bridge ; to which all the scholars equally contributed,
whether they attended it or not. As to religious opinions,
his first prejudices, the public discredit of Lollardy before
he came to Cambridge, and the diligent and severe pro-
secution of Lutherans after he came there, were all in
favour of the established superstitions. Nay more, his
uncle, Dr. Robert Ridley, at whose expense and under
whose influence he was now educating at Pembroke
Hall, would keep him steady in that tract : for in the
year 1520, or 1521, when the cardinal held a kind of
convocation in his house, for the discussing and refuting
Luther's doctrines, Dr. Ridley (with others) was sent
from the University of Cambridge to assist in them.
In 1522, he took the degree of B.A., and in 1524,
he was chosen fellow of liis college. As his studies were
now directed to divinity, his uncle, at his own charge,
sent him for farther improvement to the Sorbonne, and
thence to Louvain. In 1530, he was chosen junior
treasurer of his college, and about this time appears to
have been more than ordinarily intent on the study
of the Scriptures. For this purpose he used to walk
in the orchard at Pembroke Hall, and there committed
to memory almost all the Epistles in Greek ; which walk
is still called Ridley's Walk. In 1533, he was chosen
senior proctor of the university.
RIDLEY. 317
While he was proctor, the important point of the~
pope's supremacy came before the university to be ex-
amined on the authority of Scripture. For this purpose
tliey appointed public disputations for sifting the ques-
tion thoroughly. In these it is probable that Ridley's
education at Paris had given him an ability to assist
with great success ; as he might have learned there to
overcome the chief difficulty in that question, which was
to get over the prejudice of human authority in the
decrees of popes and councils, and their false interpre-
tations of Scripture. Their famous appeal from the
pope's repeal of the acts of the Council of Basle was
yet fresh in memory, and the writings of two of their
members, Gerson and Occam, were then diligently read
there. The latter of these determines, that neither the
pope nor the clergy are exempt from the emperor's jurisdic-
tion ; and that whatever greater privileges they enjoy, they
hold of human right only. Grounding his determina-
tion on this Scripture, that each, after embracing Chris-
tianity, was to remain in the same condition in which
he was before he was called. (1 Cor. vii. 20.) If therefore,
says he, before ordination, every priest was subject to
his own prince ; after priesthood taken, he was to con-
tinue in the same subjection : and consequently the
pope, if before he was called to the Papacy he was
subject to the emperor, his being called to the Papacy
does not discharge him from being under the imperial
jurisdiction. The University of Cambridge therefore
following the judgment of that at Paris, after mature
deliberation came to this resolution : " That the Bishop
of Rome had no more authority and jurisdiction derived
to him from God, in this kingdom of England, than
any other foreign bishop." Signed in the name of the
university. May 2nd, 1534, by Simon Heynes, vice-
chancellor; Nicholas Ridley, Richard Wilkes, proctors.
In 1534, he took the degree of B.D., and was chosen
chaplain of the university, and public reader. In 1537,
VOL. VIII. u
218 RIDLEY.
liis great reputation as a preacher, and his intimate ac-
quaintance with the Scriptures and fathers, led Cranmer,
Archbishop of Canterbury, to appoint him his domestic
chaplain. As a farther mark of esteem, he collated
him in April, 1538, to the vicarage of Heme in Kent.
Here he preached the principles of the Reformation,
excepting that he still adhered to the doctrine of the
corporal presence in the Eucharist; and among other
converts whom he made to them, was the Lady Fiennes.
In ]')39, when the act of the Six Articles was passed,
Ridley who had now the character of a zealous Scrip-
turist, bore his testimony against it in the pulpit. In
1549 he went to Cambridge, and took his degree of D.D.
Soon after this he was preferred to the mastership of
Pembroke Hall, and about the same time, through the
archbishop's influence was appointed chaplain to the
king, and was nominated to a prebend in the Cathe-
dral Church of Canterbury, which was now made a
collegiate church with a deanery, twelve prebendaries,
and six preachers.
How honestly and prudently the new prebendary
behaved himself, appears in good measure from his
endeavours in the pulpit to set the abuses of Popery
so open before the people's eyes in his sermons, as to
provoke the prebendaries and preachers of the old
learning to exhibit articles against him, at the Arch-
bishop's Visitation for preaching contrary to his tes-
timony against any error he had discovered ; yet, the
statute of the six articles. He feared not to bear
with respect to the authority by which the six articles
were enjoined, delivering his opinion so cautiously, as
that his accusers could prove nothing but the malice
of their accusation.
His subjects, and his manner of handling them, we
learn from his adversaries. His subjects were chosen
to recommend a sensible spirit of devotion; maintain-
ing that prayer ought to be made in a language which
RIDLEY. 219
the people understood, and not in an unintelligible
tongue, "for so it were but babbling"; and for this end he
introduced in his own parish church at Heme a trans-
lation of the excellent hymn of St. Ambrose, Te Deum ;
directing at other times not to build any security upon
mere ceremonies, for that no meeter term could be given
them than beggarly ceremonies : and though he had a
very high opinion of the usefulness of Auricular Con-
fession, as in a letter written by him in prison he de-
clares he always had, and it was now appointed by
statute, that of the six articles, yet he ingenuously and
faithfully declared the truth in that matter, that it was
but a mere positive law, and ordained as a godly mean
for the sinner to come to the priest for counsel ; as such
he recommended and wished the use of it ; but then he
declared, that as to the doctrine of its being absolutely
necessary to salvation, he could not find it in Scripture.
These points we find urged against him by the preben-
daries and preachers of Canterbury two years after.
The manner in which he treated his subjects we learn
from the acknowledgment of Winchester in a letter to
Ridley in King Edward's reign, when his authority and
reputation might have emboldened him to be more dog-
matical. He says, "You declared yourself always desirous
to set forth the mere truth, with great desire of unity, as
you professed ; not extending any of your asseverations
beyond your knowledge : but always adding such like
words, as far as you had read, and if any man could
shew you further, you woidd hear him; wherein you
were much to be commended." Such was the meek
and gentle spirit of him, whom a late Popish writer
is pleased to brand for " his virulent temper in matters
of religion."
Hitherto Dr. Ridley had been an unsuspecting believer
in the doctrine of transubstantiation ; but in the year
1545, while spending a considerable time in retirement
at Heme, he employed himself in carefully and dis-
U2Q RIDLEY.
passionately examining into its truth and evidence. To
this subject his attention appears to have been drawn,
by the apology of the Zuinglians for their doctrine
respecting the Eucharist in opposition to Luther, which
had been lately published, and was very generally and
eagerly read. He had also procured the treatise of
Bertram or Ratramn, (see his Life) a monk of Corbie
in the ninth century, written against Paschasius
Radbert, at the request of the Emperor Charles
the Bald, of which we have made particular men-
tion in our life of the author. From this book
Dr. Ridley learned, that the doctrine of the corporal
presence, or transubstantiation, was for the first time
advanced so lately as about the year 840, and that
it met wdth the strongest opposition from some of
the firm supporters of the Catholic Church. This dis-
covery razed at once that foundation of authority on
which he had been accustomed to establish that doc-
trine, and prepared him to consider without prejudice
what the writers above mentioned had published. He
now determined to search the Scriptures more accurately
upon the subject, as well as the doctrine of the primitive
fathers. As he proceeded, he honestly communicated
his discoveries and his scruples to his friend and patron
Cranmer, who, knowing the sincerity of the man, and
his cool judgment, was prevailed upon to examine this
doctrine himself with the utmost care. The result was,
that both Dr. Ridley and the archbishop became fully
convinced, that the doctrine in question was not a doc-
trine of Scripture. The setting aside this absurd tenet
was a very important article of the Reformation ; for, as
Cranmer expressed himself, " the taking away of beads,
pilgrimages, pardons, and such like Popery, was but
the lopping a few branches, which would soon spring
up again, unless the roots of the tree, which were
transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the mass, were
pulled up." And this he acknowledged was owing to
RIDLEY. aai
conference with Dr. Ridley, " who, by sundry persua-
sions and authorities of doctors, drew him quite from
his old opinion." Towards the close of the year 1545,
Cranmer procured for his friend the eighth stall in
the Church of St. Peter at Westminster. Upon the
accession of Edward VI. in 1547, Dr. Ridley, being
appointed to preach before the king on Ash- Wednesday,
took that opportunity, after confuting the Bishop of
Rome's pretended claims to authority and power, to
discourse concerning the abuses of images in churches,
and ceremonies, particularly the use of holy water for
driving away devils ; which Gardiner, Bishop of Win-
chester, who was among his auditors, made an unsuc-
cessful attempt to defend, in a letter which he sent
to him on the following Monday.
In 1547, Dr. Ridley was consecrated Bishop of
Rochester. This year, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Dr. Cranmer, communicated to Latimer, (released from
his confinement, but refusing the episcopal charge, and
residing with the archbishop) those truths with regard
to the Lord's Supper, with which Ridley had brought
him acquainted the year before. The idolatrous vene-
ration of that Sacrament in the Church of Rome, in
worshipping the elements, as converted into the very
substantial and natural Body and Blood of Christ ; and
the extreme reverence paid to them by the Lutherans,
as comprehending and containing in them the same
substantial and natural Body and Blood, were now
openly opposed: but the Anabaptists, who fled from
Germany hither ; the extravagant among ourselves, who
leap from one extreme, over the truth, to the other ; and
some Protestants, who confounded truth and error by
their scurrility, carried this opposition so far as to
bring this Sacrament into great contempt. Railing bills
against it were fixed upon the doors of St. Paul's
Cathedral, and other places, terming it Jack in the box,
the Sacrament of the Halter, Round Robin, and such
u 3
k'52 KTDLEY.
like irreverent terms. The new Bishop of Rochester,
who, was as far removed from profaneness as from
superstition, set his face strenuously against this im-
piety; and publicly rebuked it in his sermon at St.
Paul's Cross, with great earnestness asserting the
dignity of the Sacrament, and the presence of Christ's
Body there ; reproving with great freedom those who
did irreverently behave themselves with regard to it ;
bidding them, who esteemed the Sacrament no better
than a piece of bread, to depart, as unworthy to hear
the mystery ; as the Poenitentes, Audientes, Catechu-
meni, and Energumeni, in the primitive times were
not admitted when the Sacrament was administered.
He observed to them (as Fecknam reports) that the devil
believed better than some among them ; for he believed
that Christ was able of stones to make bread, but they
would not believe that Christ's Body was in the Sacra-
ment : but to the receivers, the Sanctl, he so explained
the Presence, that he asserted, that the material sub-
stance of the bread did still remain, and that Christ
called it His Body, Meat, and Flesh, giving it the
properties of the Thing of which it beareth the name.
Here we find the same lines of his character continued
in the preacher, which were observed before in the
disputant ; modest in proposing his opinions to persons
whose judgments only w^ere mistaken, meekly instruc-
ting those who were in error: but earnest and severe
wherever he discovered a fault in the will, boldly
rebuking vice. Yet, notwithstanding all his care and
caution, this sermon was afterwards very untruly and
unjustly represented, as he himself complained, as if
he had in it asserted the presence of Christ's natural
Body.
We may mention here a disputation held at Cam-
bridge on this subject, at which Bishop Pddley presided.
The Protector Somerset, presuming probably on the
favours lately shewn to the Bishop of Rochester, and
RIDLEY. j^'23
the expectation of further favours in «time to come,
endeavoured to persuade or intimidate him to coun-
tenance one of those foul jobs which disgraced so many
of the lay reformers, by which he desired, under pre-
tence of Reformation, to rob the University of Cambridge
and to enrich himself. Ridley could be neither per-
suaded nor intimidated, and the proud and grasping
protector was obliged to drop the affair. The commis-
sioners to whom the Protector Somerset intended to
assign this job, were appointed also to preside at the
disputation just alluded to, and this part of the com-
mission was executed. Two positions were appointed
to be the subjects of this public disputation ; and after
they had been sufficiently ventilated, a determination
of the matters debated was to be made by the Bishop
of Rochester. The two positions were : —
1. Transubstantiation cannot be proved by the plain
and manifest words of Scripture, nor can thereof be
necessarily collected, nor yet confirmed by the consents
of the ancient fathers for these one thousand years
past.
2. In the Lord's Supper is none other oblation or
sacrifice, than one only remembrance of Christ's death,
and of thanksgiving.
The first disputation was on Thursday the 20th of
June, Dr. Madew of Clare Hall, respondent, maintain-
ing the above positions: Dr. Glyn, Master Langdale,
Sedgwick and Young, opponents. The second dispu-
tation was held on Monday the 24th, Dr. Glyn, respon-
dent, maintaining the contrary positions : Master Par-
ker, (not Matthew, who was afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury) Pollard, Vavasor, and Young, opponents.
There is one difference observed between the disputa-
tions at Oxford and at Cambridge : Peter Martyr
admitted a change in the elements ; and Langdale,
one of the opponents, the first day at Cambridge, asked,
supposing a change admitted, " Whether that change
^24 RIDLEY.
was wrought in the substance, or in the accidents, or
else in both, or in nothing?" Ridley interposed and
answered, "There is no change, either of the sub-
stances or of the accidents, insomuch, that whereas the
bread and wine were not sanctified before, nor holy,
yet afterward they be sanctified, and so do receive
then another sort or kind of virtue, which they had not
before."
After the disputations were finished, the bishop
determined : —
First, — Against Transubstantiation, on these five
principal grounds :
1. The authority, majesty, and verity of Holy Scrip-
ture: "I will not drink hereafter of the fruit of the
vine." St. Paul and St. Luke call it bread after con-
secration. They speak of breaking, which agrees with
bread, not with Christ's Body. It was to be done in
remembrance of Him. " This is the Bread that came
down from heaven ;" but Christ's Body came not down
from heaven. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the
flesh profiteth nothing."
'2. The most certain testimonies of the ancient
Catholic fathers, who (after my judgment) do sufficiently
declare this matter. Here he produced many fathers,
Dionysius, Ignatius, Irenasus, Tertullian, Chrysostom,
Cyprian, Theodoret, Gelasius, x\ustin, Cyril, Isychius
and Bertram, who call it bread after consecration,
sacramental bread, the figure of Christ's Body : and
expressly declare that bread still continues after con-
secration, and that the elements cease not to be the
substance of bread and wine still.
3. The nature of a Sacrament. In this he sujDposes
natural symbols to represent like spiritual effects, which
in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper are unity, nutri-
tion, and conversion. They who take away the union
of the grains making one bread, of which partaking
we become one mystical Body of Christ ; or they who
HIDLEY. j;)Q5
deny the nutrition, or substance of tliose grains, by
which our bodies being nourished is represented the
nourishment of our souls by the Body of Christ, these
take away the simiUtude between the bread and the
Body of Christ, and destroy the nature of a Sacrament.
As neither is there any thing to signify our being turned
into Christ's Body, if there be no conversion of the bread
into the substance of our bodies.
The 4th ground was. that Transubstantiation destroys
one of the natures in Christ.
They which say that Christ is carnally present in the
Eucharist, do take from Him the verity of man's nature.
Eutyches granted the divine nature in Christ, but His
human nature he denied. So they that defend Tran
substantiation, ascribe that to the human nature, which
only belongeth to the divine nature.
The 5th ground is the most sure belief of the article
of our faith, " He ascended into heaven."
He quotes from St. Austin on St. John, " The Lord
is above, even to the end of the world : but yet the
verity of the Lord is here also. For His Body wherein
He rose again must needs be in one place, but His
verity is spread abroad everywhere."
By verity he means an essential divine presence by
His invisible and unspeakable grace, as he distinguishes
on Matthew xxviii,, " As touching His majesty, His
providence, His invisible and unspeakable grace, these
words are fulfilled, which He spake, ' I am with you
unto the end of the world :' but according to the flesh
which He took upon Him, so ' ye shall not have Me
always with you.' And why? because as concerning
His flesh He went up into heaven, and is not here,
for He sitteth at the right hand of the Father: and
yet concerning the presence of His divine majesty He
is not departed hence." And from Vigilius he quoted,
" Concerning His flesh we look for Him from heaven ;
Whom, as concerning the Wo}d (or divine nature) we
226 EIDLEY.
believe to be with us on earth." And again, "the
course of Scripture must be searched of us, and many-
testimonies must be gathered, to shew plainly what
a wickedness and sacrilege it is, to refer those things
to the property of the divine nature, which do only
belong to the nature of the flesh : and contrariwise,
to apply those things to the nature of the flesh, which
do properly belong to the divine nature." This he
observes the Transubstantiators do, who affirm Christ's
Body not to be contained in any one place, and ascribe that
to His humanity, which properly belongs to His divinity.
Second, — Against the oblation of Christ in the Lord's
Supj)er he determined on these two grounds : —
1. Scripture; as Paul saith, Hebrews, ix., "Christ
being become an High Priest of good things to come,
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with
hands, that is, not of this building : neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by His own Blood, entered
once into the Holy place, and obtained eternal redemp-
tion for us. And now in the end of the world He hath
appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of Him-
self." And again, " Christ was once oflered to take away
the sins of many." Moreover he saith, "With one
offering hath He made perfect for ever those that are
sanctified." These Scriptures do persuade me to believe
that there is no other oblation of Christ (albeit I am
not ignorant that there are many sacrifices) but that
which was 07ice made on the cross.
2. The testimonies of the ancient fathers. Austin
ad Bonif. Epist. 23. Again, in his book of forty- three
questions, question forty-one, contra Transubstan. lib.
20. cap. 21, 28., where he writes how the Christians
keep a memorial of the sacrifice past, with an oblation,
and participation of the Body and Blood of Christ.
Fulgentius in his book de Fide, calls the same a com-
memoration. And these things are sufficient at this
time for a scholastic determination of these matters.
PJDLEY. Sa-T
In 1548, Bishop Kidley was employed with Arch-
bishop Cranmer, and others, in reforming, translating,
and compiling the Book of Common Prayer. (See the
Life of Cranmer. J
On the suspension of Bishop Bonner, Bishop Ridley
was translated to London, and was enthroned in April,
1550. Nothing could exceed the piety, zeal, sound
judgment, and decorum with which he conducted him-
self in this high office. We have a minute account
of his domestic arrangements, w^hich are interesting,
as throwing light upon the customs of the time, while
it is for all time instructive. When, in 1551, the
sweating sickness prevailed in England, and made its
appearance in London in the month of June, while
all the nobility and men of wealth fled, Bishop Ridley
remained at his post, braved all danger, and while
hundreds were dying daily around him, he laboured
in the discharge of his pastoral functions and endea-
voured to improve the public calamity to the reformation
of the manners of the people.
In 1551, occurred the controversy between the Bishop
of Lttndon and Dr. Hooper, the elect of Gloucester,
who was anxious to accept the episcopal office and
revenues, but demurred to the use of the episcopal
vestments. There were long arguings between them,
and at last the dispute kindled into some heat. The
Bishop considered it as a refractory disobedience to
laws and governmxent, which it is necessary at all times
to support, but was then more particularly so, in those
days of faction ; for the doctrine of Lady Mary's court
w^as, that the king's laws during his minority were not
to be obeyed ; Bonner and Gardiner had refused to
preach that obedience was due to them ; and the king-
dom w^as scarcely quieted from insurrections in all parts
of it from the same principle : nay even among the Gos-
pellers, as they were called, their whims and enthusiasm
had introduced great disorder : not only Munster had
228 RIDLEY.
taught to withdraw all obedience from the civil powers
to erect an unscriptural kingdom of Christ, but Calvin's
own opinions, to which Hooper inclined, were probably
too well known, which he afterwards published in his
Prelections upon Amos ; where he says, " We are sen-
sible of the consequence of that unhappy principle,
which gives the civil magistrate a sovereignty in religion.
The complimenting Henry the Eighth wdth such a
sovereign authority in all matters shocked me extremely.
They who call him the supreme head of the Church
under Christ, were plainly guilty of blasphemy." On
these accounts Ridley looked upon it as a point of
importance that Hooper should comply, and learn
obedience before he took upon him the office of a
governor, while Hooper endeavoured to represent it as
a contest only about habits, indifferent at best, but in
his judgment sinful. Hence grew a warm controversy
about religious vestments ; and what was begun by
Cranmer on account of the Premunire was now called
the Bishop of London's Controversy de re vestiaria. The
pulpits and the schools engaged in the dispute; for
Peter Martyr in a letter to Bucer mentions disputations
at Oxford, about the middle of October, on this ques-
tion, " whether it were lawful to recall the Aaronic cere-
monies into the Christian Church ?" In which letter
he blames Hooper for not coolly canvassing the point
among his friends, which would have prevented that
heat of preaching, which then could hardly be allayed.
Hooper himself, who was a popular preacher, and soon
after silenced, declaimed liberally on the subject. Nor
was he without seconds in his cause ; John a Lasco was
entirely of his opinion, and many of the court (as
Martyr heard) favoured him. Nay he boasted, that the
foreign Churches, and particularly the two professors,
Bucer and Martyr, sided with him : but in this he was
mistaken, for John a Lasco, who warmly espoused
Hooper's cause, acknowledges that he counselled Hooper
RIDLEY. 229
to give out confidently, that all the foreigners then in
England were of his opinion ; for being so straitened
in time, that he had no opportunity of asking their
judgment, he boldly ventured to strengthen his cause
by the patronage of their names : but in this both
Hooper and a Lasco were greatly too forward, and dis-
appointed in the event. These flames of contention
alarmed the council ; they knew not how far they might
reach, nor what confusion might be introduced by them.
Therefore, October 3rd, they sent for Hooper, and
required him to cease the occasion of this controversy,
by conforming himself to the laws. Hooper humbly
besought them, that, for declaration of his doings, he
might put in writing such arguments as moved him
to be of the opinion which he held. This was granted
him ; and he offered a Book to the Council against
the use of those habits which were then used by the
Church of England in her sacred ministries. The next
Sunday, October 6th, the Council wrote to the Bishop
of London, that "whereas there had been some dif-
ference between him and the Elect of Gloucester, upon
certain ceremonies belonging to the making a Bishop,
wherein their lordships desire is, because they would
in nowise be stirring up of controversies between men
of one profession, that he would cease the occasion
thereof. The bishop humbly required that as the Elect
of Gloucester had leave to offer in writing his reasons
for dissenting, he also in his own justification might
put in writing such arguments as moved him to be of
the opinion which he held." This was granted, and he
had orders to attend the council the next Sunday, and
to bring with him such answer as he thought convenient.
Part of Hooper's Book, says Dr. Gloucester Eidley, I
have by me in M.S., but Ridley's Answer I have never
seen : yet by a Letter from John a Lasco, I find that
it was not only defensive; for, besides answering
Hooper's arguments, some objections were added ; which
VOL. vriL X
•>30 RIDLEY.
Hooper by another writing endeavoured to refute. And
this refutation was again refuted in a pretty long
answer from the bishop and it appears that the council
were so well satisfied that Hooper's stiffness was more
tlian reasonable, in standing out still against any com-
pliance, that even his great friends forsook him, and
forthwith commanded him to keep his house, unless it
were to go to the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the
Bishops of London, Ely, or Lincoln, for counsel and
satisfaction of his conscience.
In June, 1550, the Bishop of London held his pri-
mary visitation, and directed that the Romish altars
should be taken down, and tables substituted in their
room.
The reasons assigned for this injunction were : —
1. That the end of this sacrament was to eat of
Christ's body, and to drink His blood, not to sacrifice
and crucify Him again : the end therefore required a
table rather than an altar.
2. It is sometimes indeed called altar in the Book of
Common Prayer, as that on which the sacrifice of praise
and thanksgiving is offered; but it is also called the
Lord's table, and the Lord's board indifferently, without
prescribing any particular form. So that this injunction
is not contrary to the Book of Common Prayer.
o. The Popish opinion was that an altar was neces-
sary for the celebration of the mass, which superstitious
opinion was kept alive by the continuance of altars :
therefore the removal of altars was necessary for abolish-
ing that superstitious opinion.
4. An altar was ordained for the sacrifices of the law ;
but now both the law and the sacrifices ceasing, the
altar should also cease.
5. Christ instituted His last supper at a table, and
not upon an altar. Nor did either the Apostles or the
primitive Church, as we read of, ever use an altar in
the ministration of the Holy Communion. Therefore
RIDLEY. 231
a table, as more agreeing with Christ's institution and
primitive practice is rather to be used than an altar.
6. Because the Book of Common Prayer leaves it to
the diocesan to determine, if any doubt arises about the
practice of it.
He was soon after engaged with the archbishop in
drawing up the forty- two articles. (See Life of Crafimer.J
In the year following, he visited his old college at Cam-
bridge, and on his return called at Hansdon, to pay
his respects to the Princess Mary, afterwards known
as the bloody queen. The arrogance, insolence, and
bitterness of her nature she displayed on this occasion,
in the insults she offered to the venerable prelate. In
1553, the bishop preached before Edward VI., and so
effectually did he insist upon the duty of almsgiving,
beneficence, and charity, that the king sent for him
to inquire how he might best put into practice the duties
so strongly enforced. The bishop conferred upon the
subject with the lord mayor and corporation of London.
The result was such a representation of the different
classes of objects which called for the attention of huma-
nity, as determined the king to found, or incorporate
anew, and endow with ample revenues, those noble
charitable institutions, Christ's, Bartholomew's, Bride-
well, and St, Thomas's hospitals.
When, after the death of King Edward VI., an
attempt was made to raise Lady Jane Grey to the
throne. Bishop Ridley was induced heartily to concur
in it by his attachment to the principles of the Refor
mation. Being commanded by the council to preach
at St. Paul's, and to recommend Queen Jane to the
people, he obeyed the order with great zeal and earnest
ness, pointing out the dangerous and ruinous conse-
quences which must follow, should the Princess Mary
succeed, who was a rigid Papist, determined to subvert
the true religion as already established, and to betray
the kingdom again into slavery under a foreign power.
«32 KIDLEY.
After the design in favour of Lady Jane had miscarried,
and the Princess Mary had been acknowledged and
proclaimed queen, Ridley was obliged as Bishop of
London to wait upon her majesty, expecting doubtless
to be accused of treason. By the command of that
bigotted princess he was sent back from Framingham
on a lame horse, and committed to the Tower on the
26th of July, 1553, to be proceeded against, not as a
state prisoner for treason, but for heresy. Notwith-
standing this treatment, the bishop might have delivered
himself from the danger which threatened him, and
recovered the queen's favour, if he would have brought
the weight of his learning and authority to countenance
her proceedings in religion. With the hope of winning
him, therefore, he was treated with more resjDect and
indulgence than the other prisoners in the Tower,
having the liberty of walking about in it, to try if he
would vo-luntarily go to mass. In the meantime, he
was very desirous of conferring with Cranmer and Lati-
mer, who were his fellow prisoners, that he might bring
his own opinions to the test, and either correct or streng-
then them from the experience of those veterans. For
this purpose they had several conferences, exchanging
papers and letters on these subjects. When Ridley had
been about eight months in the Tower, he was con-
veyed from thence to Oxford, together with Cranmer and
Latimer, to be present at a disputation, when it was
pretended that the controversy between the Papists and
Protestants would be determined by a fair debate be-
tween the most eminent divines of both parties. Of
the gratuitous and heartless insults offered to the mar-
tyrs, an account is given in the Lives of Archbishop
Cranmer, and Bishop Latimer. The important point
of the controversy turned on the subject of transub-
stantiation. The Papists represented their doctrine of
transubstantiation as founded on these three firm pillars.
Scripture, the interpretation of the primitive writers,
and the determination of the Church.
KIDLEY. 233
The Scripture in express terms affirms, in the words
of Christ Himself, " This is My body ;" consequently, say
they, this was transubstantiated from the bread it had
been, into the body of Christ. And Christ being Truth
itself and the Wisdom of the Father, to refuse credit
to His declarations, or to suppose that when He said
one thing He meant another, is impiety and infidelity.
If the Protestants expressed, as indeed they did, the
greatest reverence for Christ's words, and maintained
that they themselves understood His words in the true
sense, while the adversaries dishonour Him by interpre-
ting them in an absurd one ; the Papists urged : —
. The consent of antiquity; for that all the primitive
writers interpret the words as the Papists do, and sub-
mitting their imaginations to the wisdom of God, boldly
insist upon that sense which the Protestants call absurd ;
and expressly avow that Christ bare Himself in His own
hands : that he did eat Himself, ipse cibus et conviva : that
He took His flesh to heaven, and left it at the same time on
earth. And that while He sitteth at God's right hand,
He is in a thousand places at once on earth. Unus in
multis, idem, in diversis locis. Therefore that the
Protestants who fly to a figurative interpretation, con-
vict themselves of holding new fangled doctrines, which
they lick out of their own fingers, contrary to all the
ancient doctors ; and contrary —
To the determination of the Church, the pillar and
ground of the truth, for popes, synods, and general
councils had decreed transubstantiation ; which the Pro-
testants themselves do not deny.
Now would it have been a sufficient defence in these
bishops to have contented themselves with disavowing
the authority of all the ancient fathers and the Church
through all ages ; and to have insisted that although
they were all against the Protestant opinion, yet the
Protestant opinion was right, and all the fathers and
the Church quite mistaken from our Saviour's time
X 3
234 RIDLEY.
down to the middle of the sixteenth century ? Or would
it have been as wise a part in them, by their silence, or
by disavowing the authority as insufficient, to have con-
ceded to their adversaries, that all this authority was
against them, when they could, and did prove the con-
trary? as may be seen in Cranmer's "Defence of the
true and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the
Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ ;" and Ridley's
" Brief Treatise of the most Blessed Sacrament of the
Body and Blood of Christ;" and in his Preface to the
Disputation.
As to Scripture, Ridley observes the four evangelists
and St. Paul do agree, saying, that " Jesus took bread,
gave thanks, brake and gave it to the disciples, saying,
take, eat, this is My body." Here it appeareth plainly
that Christ called very bread His body : but say the
Papists, (that is. Innocent III., Duns Scotus, and their
followers) when He gave thanks and blessed the bread,
He changed its substance ; so that He brake not bread,
which then was not there, but only the form thereof.
But St. Paul saith it still continueth bread after the
consecration ; " the bread which we break is it not the
partaking or fellowship of the Lord's body ? " Where-
upon it followeth, that after the thanksgiving it is bread
which we break. And how often in the Acts of the
Apostles is the Lord's Supper signified by breaking of
bread ? And that the natural substance of the wine
continues is proved from the words of Christ ; for after
he had said of the cup, " This is My blood of the New
Testament," he says expressly, " I will not drink hence-
forth of this fruit of the vinetree, until that day when
I shall drink it new in My Father's kingdom." Here
note, how Christ calleth plainly His cup the fruit of the
vinetree : but the fruit of the vinetree is very natural
wine : wherefore the very natural substance of the wine
doth remain still in the Sacrament of Christ's blood.
And as they are not transubstantiated at all, but con-
KIDLEY. 235
tinue in their substance what they were before conse-
cration, that is, bread and wine, so neither can they
be transubstantiated into the natural body and blood of
Christ, but are received in remembrance of Him, namely
of His body given for us, and of His blood shed for the
remission of sins. They (the Protestants) deny the
presence of Christ's body in the natural substance of His
human and assumpt nature, and grant the presence of
the same by grace, that is, they affirm and say, that the
substance of the natural body and blood of Christ is
only remaining in heaven, and so shall be unto the
latter day, when He shall come again in glory accom-
panied with the angels of heaven to judge the quick and
the dead : but by grace the same body of Christ is here
present with us ; as we say the sun, which in substance
never removeth his place out of the heavens, is yet
present here by his beams, light, and natural influence,
where it shineth upon the earth. For all grant that
St. Paul's words require, that the bread which we break
should be the communion of the body of Christ; and
that the cup of blessing should be the communion of
the blood of Christ ; and also that he who eateth of that
bread and drinketh of that cup unworthily, should be
guilty of the Lord's death, and that he eats and drinks
his own damnation, not considering the Lord's body.
Wherefore the Papists did most falsely and injuriously
accuse the Protestants with making the Sacrament no
better than a piece of common broken bread, and but a
bare sign and figure to represent Christ. Of this great
injustice and misrepresentation Ridley complains, and
says, Alas ! let us leave lying, and speak the truth every
man not only to his neighbour, but also of his neigh-
bour; for we are all members one of another.
Ridley was quite as successful in refuting the Romish
heresy by reference to the teaching of the fathers of
the primitive Church, although there is not space to
quote his references in this article.
236 RIDLEY.
His letters written during his confinement are of the
deepest interest, and it is onlj for want of space that we
reluctantly omit the various notices which have come
down to us of the truly Christian way in which this
godly man met the persecutions to which he was sub-
jected. No sign of fanaticism did he ever exhibit; he
never lost his presence of mind; and his affectionate
heart was to the last solicitous for the welfare of all
who were near and dear to him. His farewell address
is one of the most affecting productions in our language,
and for unpretending eloquence can bear comparison
with that of Gregory Nazianzen.
During the fortnight in which he continued in prison
after his condemnation, the Popish party, as though
they were ashamed to sacrifice a man of such acknow-
ledged piety and learning, tried all their means of
persuasion to gain him to their cause. Brookes, Bishop
of Gloucester, in great simplicity pointed out to him
the only method of being reclaimed to the Church of
Rome, which was, to " captivate his senses, and subdue
his reason ;" and then, " he doubted not but that he
might be easily induced to acknowledge one Church
with them." About the same time. Lord Dacres, who
was kinsman to Ridley, offered ten thousand pounds
to the queen, if she would preserve so valuable a life.
But to this proposal she would not agree, on any other
condition than that of the bishop's recantation; and
Ridley, with the spirit of a primitive martyr, nobly
refused life on such terms.
On the 15th of October, which was the day preceding
that appointed for his execution, our excellent prelate
was degraded from priest's orders by the Bishop of
Gloucester, who seems to have considered him as having
before invalidated his consecration by abjuring the pope.
When the mummery of this scene was finished, Ridley
prepared himself for his approaching death, which a
sound judgment and a good conscience enabled him
tllDLEY. 237
to regard as a subject of joy and triumpli. He called
it his marriage, and in the evening washed his beard
and legs, and supped in company with his brother-in-law,
Mr. Shipside, and some other friends, behaving with
the utmost cheerfulness. When they rose from table,
Mr. Shipside offered to watch all night with him ; but
he would not suffer him, saying, that he intended (God
willing) to go to bed, and to sleep as quietly that night,
as ever he did in his life. On the following morning
dressed in the habit which he used to wear in his
episcopal character, he walked to the place of execution
between the mayor and one of the aldermen of Oxford ;
and seeing Latimer approach, from whom he had been
separated after their condemnation, he ran to him with
a cheerful countenance, embraced him, and said, " Be
of good heart, brother, for God will either assuage the
fury of the flame, or else strengthen us to abide it."
Then going up to the stake, he kneeled down, and kiss-
ing it, prayed with great fervour. He was now com-
pelled to hear a sermon from a Popish doctor, as we have
seen in the life of Latimer; and, after it was ended,
being refused permission to speak a few sentences, un-
less he recanted, he said, " Well, so long as the breath
is in my body, I will never deny my Lord Christ, and
His known truth. God's will be done in me ! " He was
then stripped to his shirt, and fastened by an iron chain
to the same stake with Bishop Latimer. At this instant,
when a cruel death awaited him, Ridley shewed a won-
derful greatness of mind and self-possession, in being
so regardless of his own sufferings, as to spend some of
his last moments in solicitations for the interests and
happiness of others. He made it his dying request to
Lord Williams, that he would support by his interest a
supplication which he had made to the queen on behalf
of his sister ; and that his lordship would also interfere
in favour of some poor men, who had taken leases of
Ridley, under the see of London, which his successor
SB8 RIDLEY.
had unjustly and illegally refused to confirm. All pre-
parations having now been made, a kindled faggot was
laid at Ridley's feet, who, when he saw the fire flaming
up towards him, with a loud voice commended his soul
to God. Latimer soon expired ; but, by some misman-
agement of the fire on Ridley's side of the stake, the
flames were prevented from reaching the upper part of
his body, and his legs were consumed before the fire
approached the vital parts, which made him endure
dreadful torments for a long time. At length his suffer-
ings were terminated by the explosion of a bag of gun-
powder which had been suspended from his neck, after
which he did not discover any remaining signs of life.
Such was the end of Bishop Ridley! In his private
character, he was a pattern of piety, humility, tempe-
rance, and regularity, to all around him. His temper
was cheerful and agreeable ; his manners courteous and
affable ; and of the benevolence of his heart he gave
abundant proofs, in his extraordinary generosity and
liberality to the poor. Anthony Wood says of him, that
" he was a person small in stature, but great in learn-
ing, and profoundly read in divinity," Among other
pieces he was the author of "A Treatise concerning
Images, not to be set up nor worshipped, in Churches,"
written in the time of King Edward VI. ; " Brief Decla-
ration of the Lord's Supper," first printed in 1555, 8vo,
written during his imprisonment at Oxford, and tran-
slated into Latin by William Whittyngham ; " Certain
godly and comfortable Conferences" between him and
Latimer, during the time of their imprisonment, first
printed in 1555, 8vo. ; " A friendly Farewell unto all
his true Lovers," written during his imprisonment, a
little before his death, and printed in 1559, 8vo ; "A
pious Lamentation of the miserable State of the Church
of England, in the Time of the late Revolt from the
Gospel," 8vo ; " A Comparison between the comfortable
Doctrine of the Gospel and the Traditions of the Popish
RIDLEY, GLOUCESTER. 239
Religion," printed with the former; "An Account of a
Disputation at Oxford in 1554," written in Latin, and
published from the original manuscript in 1688, 4to,
by Dr. Gilbert Ironside, warden of Wadham-college ;
"A Treatise of the Blessed Sacrament," published with
the former; and "A Letter of Reconciliation written to
Bishop Hooper," published by Samuel Johnson, in 1689,
4to. Many of his " Letters," and also some of the pieces
mentioned above, have been published by Fox in his
"Acts and Monuments," and may likewise be seen in
Gloucester Ridley's Life of Bishop Ridley. — Bidley's
Life of Ridley. Strype.
RIDLEY, GLOUCESTER,
Gloucester Ridley was born on board the Gloucester,
East Indiaman, whence his Christian name, in 1702,
and was educated at Winchester and New College.
For a great part of his life he had no other preferment
than the small living of Weston Longueville, in Norfolk,
and the donative of Poplar, in Middlesex, where he
resided. To these his college added, some years after,
the donative of Romford, in Essex.
In 1740 and 1742 he preached eight sermons at
Lady Moyer's lecture, which were pubhshed in 1742,
8vo. In 1763 he published the Life of Bishop Ridley,
in 4to. In 1765 he published his Review of Philip's
Life of Cardinal Pole. In 1761, in reward for his
labours in this controversy, and in another which the
confessional produced, he was presented by Archbishop
Seeker to a golden prebend at Salisbury. He died in
1774. Two poems by Dr. Ridley, one styled, Jovi
Eleutherio, or an Offering to Liberty, and the other
called Pysche, were printed in Dodsley's Collection.
Melampus, the sequel of the latter, was afterwards pub-
lished by subscription. In 1761 he published, in 4to,
•240 ROBERTS.
De Sjriacarum Novi Foederis Versionum indole atque
usu, Dissertatio, occasioned by a Sjriac version, which,
with two others, were sent to him nearly thirty years
before, by one Mr. Samuel Palmer from Amida, in
Mesopotamia. His age and growing infirmities, the
great expence of printing, and the want of a patron,
l^revented him from availing himself of these MSS ; yet
at intervals he employed himself on a transcript, which
was published by professor White, with a literal Latin
translation, in 2 vols., 4 to, at the expense of the dele-
gates of the Clarendon Press. — Gent. Mag.
ETNALDI, 0D0R[C.
Odoric Rinaldi was born in 1595 at Treviso, and was
educated at Parma under the Jesuits. He became an
Oratorian at Rome in 1618. Of the congreagation of
the Oratory, Baronius was a member, after whose death,
Rinaldi was employed in continuing his Ecclesiastical
Annals, from 1198, with which the work of Baronius
terminated, to 1564, when the council of Trent was
dissolved. This continuation consists of ten large vol-
umes in folio, which made their appearance in Rome
at different periods from 1646 to 1677. Rinaldi pub-
lished a sufficiently copious abridgment, in Italian, of
the whole annals compiled both by Baronius and him-
self, which is said to be a masterly performance. — Biog.
Universelle.
ROBERTS, FRANCIS.
Francis Roberts, a Puritan, was born in Yorkshire in
]609. He took his degrees in arts, at Trinity College,
Oxford ; after which he became minister of St. Augus-
tine, Watling-street, and rector of Wrington, in Somer-
setshire. In ]67'2, he w^ent to Ireland with the Earl of
ROGERS. Q41
Essex ; and while there was made doctor of divinity.
He died at Wrington in 1675. His principal work is
entitled " Clavis Bibliorum, the Key of the Bible," 2
vols. 8vo, 1649 ; and again in folio, 1675. He pubhshed
besides some single sermons, " The Believer's Evidence
for Eternal Life;" "The Communicant Instructed;"
" Clavis Bibliorum, the Key of the Bible, including the
order, names, times, penmen, occasion, scope, and prin-
cipal matter of the Old and New Testament;" " Myste-
rium et Medulla Bibliorum, or the Mystery and Marrow
of the Bible ;" and, " The True Way to the Tree of
Life." — Watkin's Universal Biog. Vict.
KOELL, HERMANN ALEXANDER.
Hermann Alexander Roell was born in 1653, at
Doelberg, in Westphalia. He was educated first at
Unna, and then at Utrecht. In 1686, he accepted the
offer of a professorship in divinity from the University
of Franeker. In 1704, he was appointed to the divinity
chair of Utrecht, and he retained that post till his death,
in 1718. Among his publications are : — "A Commentary
upon the Commencement of the Epistle of St. Paul to
the Ephesians ;" " the second part of the same, with An
Analysis of the Epistle to the Colossians ;" " An Ana-
lysis and Abridgment of the Prophetical Books of the
Old and New Testament;" and, " An Explication of the
Catechism of Heidelberg. — Chaufepie.
ROGERS, JOHN.
John Rogers, the first who suffered martyrdom for the
principles of the English Reformation in the days of
Mary, was* educated at Cambridge ; the time and place
of his birth are not mentioned. Soon after he was
vol. yiii. ¥
242 ROGERS.
ordained, the company of merchant adventurers, as they
were then called, appointed him their chaplain at
Antwerp, where he remained for many years. This proved
also the means of his conversion from Popery, for meet-
ing there with Tyndale and Coverdale, he was induced
by their conversation to examine the points in contro-
versy more closely, the result of which was his em-
bracing the sentiments of the Reformers. He also joined
with these colleagues in making the first translation
of the Bible into English, which appeared at Ham-
burgh, in 1532, under the name of Thomas Matthew.
Rogers was corrector of the press on this occasion, and
translated that part of the Apocrypha which was left
unfinished by Tyndale, and also contributed some of
the marginal notes. At Antwerp he married, and thence
w^ent to Wittemberg, and was chosen pastor of a Dutch
congregation there, w^hich office he discharged until the
accession of Edward VI., when Bishop Ridley invited
him home, and made him prebendary and divinity
reader of St. Paul's. Mary made her triumphal entry
into London, August o, 1553; and Rogers had the
boldness to preach a sermon at St. Paul's Cross on the
following Sunday, in which he exhorted the people to
abide by the doctrine taught in King Edward's days,
and to resist Popery in all its forms and superstitions.
For this he was immediately called before the privy
council, in which were several of the restored Popish
bishops ; but he appears to have defended himself so
ably, that he was dismissed unhurt. This security,
however, was not of long duration, and two days before
Mary issued her proclamation against preaching the
Reformed doctrines, (August 18) he was ordered to re-
main a prisoner in his own house at St. Pauls ; thence
after six months he was removed to Newgate ; and in
January, 1555, he underwent an examination before
Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, an interestiilg account
of which is given by Fox.
nOGERg. 243
It is impossible within our prescribed limits to tran-
scribe the whole, but the following conversation will
give his view of the subject of the royal supremacy.
The Lord Chancellor Gardiner asked him whether he
would conform to the Catholic Church : —
Bogers. — " The Catholicke Church I never didde nor
will dissent from."
Lord Chancellor. — " Nay, but I speak of the state of
Catholicke Church, in that wise in which we stand now
in England, having received the pope to be supreme
head."
Rog. — " I knowe none other head but Christ of His
Catholicke Church; neither will I acknowledge the
Bishop of Rome to have any more authoritie than any
other bishop hath by the word of God, and by the doc-
trine of the olde and pure Catholicke Church four hun-
dred yeares aftor Christ."
L. Chan. — " Why didst thou then acknowledge King
Henrie the Eighth, to be supreme head of the Church,
if Christ be the onlie head ? "
Bog. — "I never granted him to have any supremacie
in spirituall things, as are the forgivenesse of sinnes,
giving of the Holie Ghost, authoritie to be a Judge above
the word of God."
*' Yea, saide hee, and Tonstall Bishop of Duresme,
and Heath Bishop of Worcester, if thou hadst said so in
his daies (and they nodded the head at me with a laugh-
ter) thou hadst not beene alive now."
On another occasion, to use his own words, " being
asked againe by the Lord Chancellor, whether I would
come into one Church with the bishops and whole
realme, as now was concluded by parliament, (in the
which all the realme was converted to the Catholicke
Church of Rome) and so receive the mercy before pro-
fered me, rising again with the whole realme, out of
the schisme and errour in which we had long been,
with recantation of my errors : I answered, that before
244 ROGERS, JOHN.
I could not tell what his mercy meant, but now I under-
stoode that it was a mercy of the Antichristian Church
of Rome, which I utterly refused, and that the rising
which hee spake of, w-as a very fall into errour and false
doctrine. Also that I had and would be able by God's
grace, to prove that all the doctrine which I had ever
taught, was true and catholicke, and that by the Scrip*
tures, and the authority of the fathers that lived four
hundred yeares after Christ's death."
The issue of his trial was his condemnation, and
having been degraded from his ministerial orders by
the hands of Bishop Bonner, in New^gate, he was sum-
moned to the stake on Monday, the 4th of February.
Before he left the prison, one of the sheriffs urged him
" to revoke his abominable doctrines and his evil opinion
of the sacrament of the altar." The victim answered
firmly : " That which I have preached I will seal with
my blood." " Thou art an heretic, then," said the
magistrate. The reply was : " That will be seen at the
day of judgment." " Well then," rejoined the sheriff,
" I will never pray for thee." Rogers meekly said :
*' But I will pray for tliee.'" On entering the street, he
found an immense crowd waiting to see him, by whom
he was received with every demonstration of pious res-
pect and gratitude. He passed along repeating the
fifty-first psalm, and in his way he suffered the momen-
tary pain of observing among the afflicted spectators,
his wife and ten of his children : an eleventh hanging
unconsciously at its mother's breast. Being arrived in
Smithfield, a pardon was offered to him, if he would
recant. But his holy magnanimity forsook him not,
and he refused the proffered clemency. — Stryjie. Soames.
ROGERS, JOHN.
John Rogers was born, in 1679, at Ensham, in Ox-
ROGERS, JOHN. 245
fordshire. He was educated at New College School, at
Oxford, and in 1693, became a scholar of Corpus Christi
College. He was presented to the vicarage of Buckland,
in Berkshire; and in 1712, he went to London, where
he was chosen lecturer of St. Clement Danes. He
afterwards became lecturer of the united parishes of
Christ Church, and St. Leonard's, Foster-lane. In
1716, he was presented to the Rectory of Wrington, in
Somersetshire ; and some time after he was elected canon
residentiary of the Cathedral of Wells, in which he also
bore the office of sub-dean. In 1719, he engaged in the
Bangorian controversy, and published, " A Discourse of
the visible and invisible Church of Christ: in which it
is shown, that the powers claimed by the officers of the
visible Church, are not inconsistent with the supremacy
of Christ as head, or with the rights and liberties of
Christians as members, of the invisible Church," 8vo.
Dr. Sykes having published an answer, Mr. Rogers
replied to him in " A Review of the Discourse of the
visible and invisible Church of Christ." In 1722, the
University of Oxford conferred on him, by diploma, the
degree of D.D. In 1726, he was made chaplain to the
Prince of Wales, afterwards George II. ; and in the
following year he published, against the attacks of An-
thony Collins, in his " Scheme gf Literal Prophecy," a
volume of sermons, entitled, " The Necessity of Divine
Revelation, and the Truth of the Christian Religion,
asserted ;" to which he prefixed, " A Preface, with Re-
marks on the Scheme of Literal Prophecy." Collins
having written " A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Rogers, on
occasion of his eight Sermons concerning the necessity
of Divine Revelation, and the Preface prefixed to them,"
Dr. Rogers published, " A Vindication of the Civil
Establishment of Religion, wherein some positions of
Mr. Chandler, the author of the Literal Scheme, &c..
and an Anonymous Letter on that subject, are occasion-
ally considered. With an Appendix, containing a Letter
Y 3
S46 ROMAINE. ,
from the Rev. Dr. Marshall, and an Answer to the same,
1728, 8vo."
In 1728, Rogers reluctantly accepted the vicarage of
St. Giles', Cripplegate, in London. He did not enjoy his
new preferment above six months; for he died May 1,
1729, in the fiftieth year of his age. After his decease
several of his sermons were published ; and two tracts —
Reasons against Conversion to the Church of Rome,
and, A Persuasive to Conformity, addressed to Dissen-
ters.— Life hy Burton, prefixed to his Sermons.
EOMAINE, WILLIAM.
William Romaine, the son of a French Protestant who
came to England on the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes, was born at Hartlepool, in 1714, and was
educated at the Grammar School of Houghton-le-Spring.
Thence he went to Hertford College, Oxford ; but re-
moved from thence to Christ Church, where, in 1737, he
took his degree of master of arts. One of his first
sermons before the university, was directed against
Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses, which produced
a bitter reply from that powerful writer. After this,
Mr. Romaine engaged in an edition of Calasio's Hebrew
Concordance, into which he introduced some alterations,
to serve the Hutchinsonian system. In 1748, he ob-
tained the lectureship of St. Botolph, Bishopgate; the
year following he was chosen lecturer of St. Dunstan,
in the West ; and in 1750, he was appointed assistant
morning preacher at St. George's, Hanover-square. Soon
after this he was elected Gresham professor of astronomy,
which situation he soon resigned. He obtained such
popularity by his opposition to the bill for the naturali-
zation of the Jews, that his publications on that subject
were printed by the corporation of London.
In 1764, he was chosen rector by the inhabitants of
ROSCELLIN. 047
St. Andrew's by the Wardrobe, and St. Anne's Black-
friars. This election produced a suit in Chancery,
which was decided in his favour in 1776. In this situa-
tion he continued for thirty years. He died on the
26th of July, 1795. Besides the works already men-
tioned, he wrote a Comment on the 107th Psalm;
Twelve Sermons upon Solomon's Song; Twelve Dis-
courses upon the Law and Gospel ; The Life of Faith.
— Life by Cadogan.
ROQUES, PETER.
Peter Roques was born at Caune, in Languedoc,
in 1685. He was minister of a French congregation
at Basle, being appointed in 1719, and at Basle he
died in 1748.
He wrote : — The Evangelical Pastor ; this is a popular
work: Elements of the Historical, Dogmatical, and
Moral Truths contained in the Sacred Scriptures ; and
Genuine Pietism. He also edited Moreri's Dictionary ;
Saurin's Discourses on the Old and New Testament;
Martin's Translation of the Bible, with prefaces, cor-
rections, notes, and parallel passages, in 2 vols. 4to ;
Basnage's Dissertation on Duelling, and Orders of
Chivalry ; various theological and critical Dissertations ;
controversial Treatises; and numerous papers inserted
in the Journal Helvetique, and the Bibliotheque Ger-
manique. — Moreri.
ROSCELLIN, OR ROUSSELIN, JOHN.
John Roscellin, or Rousselin, a Schoolman, the founder
of the Nominalists, flourished at the end of the eleventh
and the beginning of the 12th century, and was a native
of the French Province of Bretagne. Having distin-
248 ROSCELLIN.
guished himself in the literature of the times, he was
appointed to a canonrj of the Church of Cornelius, at
Compiegne, in the Diocese of Soissons.
The practice of Dialectics, and the questions arising
out of a disputed passsage in Porj^hyry's Introduction
to the Organum of Aristotle,, respecting the different
metaphysical opinions entertained by the Platonists
and Peripatetics of the nature of General Ideas, were
the causes which led to the division between the Nomi-
nalists and Piealists, the latter adhering to Plato, the
first to Aristotle : disputes which stirred up frequent
and angry debates in the schools, without any other
result than that of sharpening their powers of argu-
mentation. This long discussion was begun by Ilos-
cellin, who, (on the testimony of his adversaries,) main-
tained that the ideas of Genus and Species were nothing
but mere words and terms (flatus vocis,) which we use
to designate qualities common to different individual
objects. He was led on by this doctrine to some here-
tical opinions respecting the Trinity, which he was ulti-
mately compelled to retract at Soissons, a.d. 1092. It
is certain that Eoscellin is the first author who obtained
the appellation of a Nominalist, and from his time the
school previously established, which held the creed that
Genus and Species were real essences, or types and
moulds of things, (Universalia ante rem according to
the phrase of the Schoolmen,) was throughout the pre-
sent period perpetually opposed to Nominalism, whose
partisans maintained that the Universalia, subsisted only
in re, or 2)ost rem : nor was the difficulty ever definitively
settled.
With respect to the doctrine of the Trinity, he held
it to be inconceivable and impossible that the Son of
God should assume the human nature alone, that is,
without the Father and the Holy G host becoming Incar-
nate also, unless by the Three Persons in the Godhead
were meant three distinct objects or natures existing
ROSE. 249
separately (such as three angels or three distinct spirits,)
though endued with one will and acting by one power.
Having visited England he here excited a controversy
of another kind, by maintaining, among other things,
that persons born out of lawful wedlock ought to be
deemed incapable of admission to holy orders. Some
even of the prelates being in this condition, Roscellin
made very powerful enemies, among whom was Anselm,
Archbishop of Canterbury; and he was finally obliged
to quit England. He then went to Paris, and by
propagating his doctrine concerning the Trinity, occa-
sioned such contests as made him glad to retire to
Aquitaine, where he passed the rest of his days un-
molested. He is supposed to have died about 1106.
None of his writings are extant. — Tennemann. Moreri.
Mosheim.
EOSE, ALEXANDER.
Alexander Rose. (See the Life of Sage.) Of this
venerable and excellent prelate we have the following
brief memoir in the Life of Bishop Sage, published by
the Spottiswoode Society : — " Born of an ancient family
in the North of Scotland, he was educated and gradu-
ated at King's College, Aberdeen ; but went through a
theological course at Glasgow under the tuition of Dr.
Gilbert Burnet, afterwards minister of Saltoun, in Had-
dingtonshire, and the well-known Bishop of Salisbury.
Having been admitted into holy orders, his first pre-
ferment was the parish of Perth, which he left for the
appointment of professor of divinity in the University
of Glasgow. In 1684, through the influence of his
uncle, the Primate of all Scotland, he was nominated
by the crown to the Principality of St. Mary's College,
in the University of St. Andrews. But his piety and
talents recommended him for elevation to a higher
2 50 HOSE.
sphere of usefulness. Accordingly, in 1687, the royal
mandate was issued for his consecration to the See of
Moray, in the room of Bishop Colin Falconer deceased;
but the Diocese of Edinburgh becoming vacant in the
same year by the translation of Bishop Patterson to
Glasgow, Dr. Rose was selected as his successor, and
was translated to Edinburgh 'before,' says Keith, 'he
had taken possession of the See of Moray.' Of this
illustrious prelate in his high position in the episcopate,
much has been already written by various authors;
and his journey to London at the Revolution of 1688,
his affecting interview with the Prince of Orange, by
which the destiny of the Episcopal Church as an Estab-
lishment was sealed, and his noble answer when asked
to follow the example of those English Bishops who
joined the standard of William, are so well known that
they need not be repeated here. Deprived of his cathe-
dral, spoiled of his revenues, and stripped of his civil
dignities, this excellent man continued after the Revo-
lution and overthrow of the Church in Scotland, to
exercise the authority of a successor of the Apostles, of
which no efforts of man could deprive him ; and under
his auspices the sacred ark was directed during those
trying and stormy times, when the face of the civil power
was turned against the Church, and the ' arm of flesh'
was lifted up in the vain endeavour to root out Catho-
licity from Scotland. He is described by a contemporary
as ' a sweet-tempered man, and of a venerable, aspect;'
and these things, his excellent disposition and benign
appearance, combined with his discretion, seem com-
pletely to have disarmed the Presbyterians, even in those
days of keen party spirit, and incautious malevolence
between persons attached to opposite and hostile inte-
rests, for we do not find that the enemies of the Church
ever ventured to assail with false and malicious asper-
sions the character of this genuine servant of God.
Having outlived all the brethren of his order, and like*
EU.E, DE LA. 951
wise all the Bishops of England who had possessed sees
before the Kevolution, he remained as the remnant of a
band hallowed by their sufferings for conscience sake ;
and his grey hairs went down to the grave with the re-
spect of the clergy of his own communion, and of the
laity of both nations, who, whatever were their opinions
upon the question, admired the firm integrity of prin-
ciple which actuated the Scottish prelates in their refusal
to recognize the government of William and Mary, and
the dignified patience with which they submitted to the
loss of all those things which absorb and engage men's
attention and time. He died in March, 17*20, and his
mortal remains were interred in the Church of Restalrig,
near Edinburgh, the cemetery of which, from its re-
tired situation and other causes, was much used by the
persecuted Episcopalians as a resting-place for their
departed friends."
ROTHEEAM, (see Scott.J
EUE, CHARLES DE LA.
Charles de la Rue. There are two French divines of
this name; the first, a Jesuit, was born at Paris, in
1643, and died in 17j^5. He determined to become
a popular preacher. He took lessons in the art of de-
claiming from the celebrated actor Baron, with whom
he was well acquainted. He became the favourite
preacher at court and in the capital. Voltaire says
that he had two sermons, entitled, " The sinner dying,"
and " The sinner dead," which were so popular, that
public notice was given by bills when they were to be
delivered. It was thought extraordinary that one who
so much excelled in reciting should set the example of
reading his discourses, instead of repeating them from
252 RUE, DE LA.
memory ; but he asserted that not only time was saved
by the indulgence, but that the preacher, at ease with
his notes before him, could deliver himself with more
animation. He was sent, after the dragoons had done
their part, to make converts among the Protestants in
the Cevennes, and had considerable success. Like many
of his society, he joined talents for conversation, and
the manners of the polite world, to the qualifications of
a scholar and a divine, and he was chosen by the Dau-
phiness and the Duke of Berry for their confessor.
His Latin poems in four books, consisting of tragedies
and miscellaneous pieces, have been several times
printed. His French works are. Panegyrics of Saints,
Funeral Orations, and Sermons. He was one of the
learned men employed in the Dolphin editions of the
classics, and Virgil fell to his share, first printed in
1675, 4to.
The other Charles de la Rue was a Benedictine of
St. Maur, and was born, in 1684, at Corbie, in Picardy.
Becoming a friend of Montfaucon he was persuaded by
him to prepare an edition of all the works of Origen,
the Hexapla excepted. Accordingly de la Rue applied
himself to this task with becoming diligence, and in
1783 published the two first volumes, in folio, with pro-
legomena, and learned and useful notes. The third
volume was ready for the press in 1757, when he was
compelled to devolve the superintendence of the impres-
sion on his nephew Vincent de la Rue, a learned mem-
ber of the same order, whom he had chosen as an assis-
tant in his labours. Charles de la Rue was carried off
by a paralytic attack in 1739, in the fifty-sixth year of
his age. From his papers his nephew carefully printed
the third volume of Origen ; and with the aid of his
materials he completed and published the fourth in
1739. Vincent de la Rue died in l76'2.—Biog. Uni^
verselle.
RUFINUS. 253
RUFINUS.
RuFiNUS, called by some Toranius, flourished in the
fourth century, and is supposed to have been a native
of Aquileia. He wss baptized in 869, and retiring to
a monastery in Aquileia, devoted himself to theological
studies. He became a presbyter of the Church, and
becoming acquainted with St. Jerome, they vowed eternal
friendship, a vow they were not destined to keep. Par-
taking of the Ascetic fanaticism of the time, he dedi-
cated himself in 371 to the monastic life, and to the
study of the Ascetic discipline, under the monks of the
deserts of Egypt. Visiting Rome on his way thither,
his design recommended him to the confidence of
Melania, a widow of a noble family and great wealth,
who resolved to accompany him to that country, and to
expend her riches on the establishment of monastic and
charitable institutions. From Egypt he was compelled
by the x\rians to flee into Palestine, where, with Melania,
he took up his residence at Jerusalem. Here he built
a monastery on Mount Olivet, where he lived for many
years.
At Jerusalem, he found Jerome, the friend of his
youth, and with him and Bishop John, he formed a
union for the advancement of theological science. All
these at that time shared in the same love for the writ-
ings of Origen. Jerome had indeed sought to make
several of his works more widely known in the Western
Church by means of translations, and had in his prefaces
spoken of him with the greatest admiration. But when,
in 390, the controversy concerning the opinions of Ori-
gen w^as started between Epiphanius and John the
Bishop of Jerusalem, (see the lives of Epiphanius and
St. Jerome) Jerome sided with the opponents of Origen,
while Rufinus maintained vehemently the cause of the
bishop which was in defence of Origen.
VOL VIII. z
254 RUFINUS.
The friends were now separated, both being persons
of excitable temper, until the year 396, when they be-
came reconciled at the altar. But although the friendly
relations between Jerome and Rufinus seem outwardly to
have been restored again, yet the communion of spirits
which had once been disturbed, certainly could not be so
easily renewed, especially in the case of so irritable and
suspicious a person as Jerome. It needed but a slight
occasion to tear open again the slightly healed wound ;
and this was given by Rufinus, though without any
intention on his part, yet certainly not without his fault.
In the year 397, he returned from his travels back to
the West, and repaired to Rome. There he w^as in-
duced, as he says, by the wishes of his friend Macarius
(who being engaged in writing a w^ork against the astro-
logical fate, was desirous of learning the views of Origen
on this subject) to translate Origen's work Hepi dpxaiv
into Latin. Now this, after what had taken place before,
was manifestly a very unwise undertaking. This book,
of all others, was directly calculated to stir up anew the
narrow-minded zealots of the Roman Church against
Origen ; and as the peculiar ideas of this work were so
perfectly alien from the theological spirit of the Roman
church, no good whatever would result from making it
known by a translation. But Rufinus did not even
furnish the means for studying and understanding Ori-
gen as a historical phenomenon. He himself was too
much carried away with wonder at the great man, and
too much fettered by the dependence of his own mind
on the dominant scheme of the Church, to be able rightly
to understand Origen in his theological development.
He was too little acquainted wdth the relation of the
hidden depths of the Christian life and consciousness
to the progressive evolution of the conception of them
in time, to be able to form any correct judgment of the
relation of Origen's theology to the Church scheme of
doctrine in his own age. He took the liberty to modify
RUFINUS. S55
the doctrines of Origen, especially in those passages
which had reference to the Trinity, according to the
decisions of the Council of Nice. But he frankly con-
fesses, also, in the preface to his translation, that in
such places he has not rendered the sense of Origen
according to the existing readings. Only he af&rms,
that he had introduced no foreign matter, but had sim-
ply restored the original reading, which had been cor-
rupted by heretics, as the harmony with other passages
required. But, then, as he did not consistently carry
through even this method, but left many passages unal-
tered, which sounded no less heretical to these times,
so he exposed himself none the less to be accused by
the zealots of having found then in those passages
nothing which would be considered as heretical, — in
spite of his protestations, that, in this translation, it was
not his design to exhibit his own views, but the original
doctrines of Origen, and that nothing else was to be
learned from it but these. At the same time, though
perfectly aware of Jerome's excitable temper, and of the
narrow and passionate spirit which characterized his
principal friends at Rome, he was still imprudent enough
to refer in his preface to the praise bestowed on Origen
by Jerome, and to the similar plan of translating his
works into Latin, which the latter had adopted.
Scarcely was there time for this translation and pre-
face to become known in Rome, when it excited among
those people the most vehement feelings of surprise and
displeasure. Two noble Romans, Pammachius and Oce-
anus, who had kept up a correspondence with Jerome
ever since the period of his residence in Rome, were
extremely concerned for the reputation of his orthodoxy,
and hastened to inform him of the scandal given to the
Christians at Rome by Rufinus. They called upon him,
by a faithful translation of that work, to exhibit Origen
in his true colours, and to clear himself from the sus
picion of entertaining the same doctrines of Origen,
256 RUFINUS.
which Rufinus had cast upon him. Jerome wrote back
in a tone of high-wrought excitement to his two friends
and to Rufinus. Even at present, however, he continued
to express himself with the same moderation concerning
Origen ; he spoke highly of his great gifts, of his Chris-
tian ardour, of his merits as an expounder of the Scrip-
tures : — and he pronounced those to be the worst enemies
of the great man, who had taken pains to publish those
writings of his which ought to have remained concealed.
" Let us not," said he, " imitate the faults of the man
whose excellencies lie beyond our reach." But the rela-
tions betwixt Jerome and Rufinus grew continually more
hostile, and both of them in controversial, or more
properly speaking, abusive tracts, full of passionate lan-
guage, forgot their dignity both as theologians and as
Christians ; as Augustine had the frankness to tell
Jerome, when he called upon him for their own sakes,
and out of respect to the weak, for whom Christ died,
to put an end to these revilings. The influence of
Jerome's powerful patrons, in Rome, however, could not
hinder Rufinus from being justified by a letter addressed
to him from the Roman Bishop Siricius. The more
zealously, therefore, did they exert themselves to excite
a more unfriendly feeling towards Rufinus in the mind
of Anastasius, who, in the year 399, succeeded Siricius.
But it was chiefly the influence of Marcella, a widow,
and ancient friend of Jerome, which contributed to in-
spire in the mind of this Roman bishop (who, according
to his own confession, had until now heard but little
or nothing about Origen) great anxiety and solicitude
with regard to the spread of the Origenistic heresies.
Rufinus was summoned before his tribunal. He excused
himself, it is true, on account of his great distance,
and for other reasons, from personally making his ap-
pearance at Rome. But he sent in a letter of defence
and justification, containing a full and explicit confession
of his faith, appealing to the fact that on the question
RUFINUS. 257
respecting the origin of the soul nothing had as yet been
determined by the Church ; and declaring that he, as a
translator, was in nowise responsible for the assertions
of the writer translated by him. Anastasius, in the
public declarations which he thereupon made, expressed
himself with great violence against Origen, and also
unfavourably towards Rufinus.
In the year 410, the ravages of the Visigoths in Italy,
under Alaric, compelled him to take refuge in Sicily,
where he appears to have died the same or the succeed-
ing year. He is now chiefly known as an ecclesiastical
historian, and the continuator of Eusebius. Having
made a Latin version of the work of Eusebius, he con-
tinued the history of the Church to the death of the
elder Theodosius (392). Both his translation and his
original work are still extant. The former, through
which Eusebius was for many ages known to the West,
like his other translations, is only remarkable for the
liberties which he has taken with the original : and the
latter possesses so very little historical value, that it has
been completely superseded by the labours of succeeding
writers. But, defective as it w^as, the " Ecclesiastical
History" of Rufinus no sooner appeared, than it was
translated into Greek.
His original works, besides the pieces in controversy
with Jerome, already noticed, consist of, De Benedicti-
onibus Judse et Reliquorum XI. Patriarch arum, Lib. II. ;
Commentariorum in Hoseam Lib. III. cum Prefatione
in xii. Minores Prophetas ; Comment in Prophetas Joel
et Amos ; Expositio Symboli, ad Laurentium Episco-
pum ; Historise Ecclesiasticse Lib. II., added by him to
his Latin version of Eusebius, and continuing the his-
tory of the Church to the death of the emperor Theodo-
sius. He is by some thought to have been the author,
but by others only the translator from some lost work
of the Vitae Patrum, which constitute the second and
third Books of Rosweide's collection. His Explanation
z 3
258 SA, OR SAA.
of the Apostle's Creed is of great importance, inasmuch
as it contains a complete catalogue of the books of the
Old and New Testaments. All his works, excepting his
Apologies for Origen, and declaration to Anastasius,
were published at Paris by Sonnius, in 1580, fol. He
translated from the Greek into Latin, The Works of
Josephus; Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, reduced
into nine books ; The Ten Books of the Recognitions
of St. Clement of Rome; The Epistle to James, the
Brother of our Lord ; and, The Book of Anatorius con-
cerning Easter. — Cave. Dupin. Neander. Doivling.
SA, OR SAA, EMANUEL.
Emanuel Sa, or Saa, was born at Villa de Conde, in
Portugal, in the year 1530, and at fifteen years of age
became a Jesuit. After having filled the philosophical
chair at Gandia, in Valentia, he was called to Rome in
1557, and appointed interpreter of the sacred writings
and professor of divinity in the seminary belonging to
his order. Here he commenced preacher, and for many
years attracted crowded audiences by his pulpit oratory.
By Pope Pius V. he was employed in superintending,
conjointly with Peter Parra, another Jesuit, a new edi-
tion of the Bible. Afterwards he was sent to regulate
the seminaries at Loretto, Milan, Genoa, and other
principal cities in Italy, where he was as much admired
and followed as a preacher as he had been at Rome.
By his exertions, however, his health became so much
injured, that he was obliged to decline all public engage-
ments, and to retire to Arona in the diocese of Milan,
where he died in 1596, in the 66th year of his age.
He was the author of. Scholia in Quatuor Evangelia,
1596, 4to, consisting of short, but learned and ingenious
notes on the Four Gospels, partly original and partly
selected from the labours of preceding commentators;
SABELLIUS. 259
Notationes in totam Sacram Scripturam, quibus turn
omnes fere Loci difficiles, turn varise ex Hebraeo, Chal-
daeo, et Graeco, Lectiones explicantur; these were pub-
lished after his death, in 1598 ; and, Aphorismi Confes-
sariorum ex Doctorum Sententiis collecti, 1595, 12mo. —
Dupin. Moreri.
SABELLIUS.
Sabellius, an heresiarch of the third century, was born
at Ptolemais, and was a disciple of Noetus. He resided
either as bishop or as a presbyter in the Pentapolis of
Cyrenaica. It was in the Pentapolis, about the year
255, that he began to excite troubles in the Church
by propounding his heresy. In the formation of his
system, he employed the apocryphal (but which was
considered by him the genuine) gospel of the Egyptians,
in which Christ reveals to His disciples, that the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are all one and the same.
Sabellius, like his predecessors, proceeded with the idea,
that the distinction of persons or hypostases in God,
would lead to the belief of a plurality of Gods, and his
disciples were wont to inquire of those whom they wished
to win over to their party, " Have we one God, or have
we three Gods?" His doctrine was the following. In
the beginning, God was the hidden, formless, unrevealed
Monas, who afterwards manifested Himself in a Trinity.
For when God, revealing Himself externally by the work
of creation, came from His hidden primeval state, and
entered into a relation with the world as its ruler and
preserver, He was named the Father: when to effect
the redemption of mankind, a second emanation from
the Deity (immediately from the Father) went forth, it
united itself in power and might (a/cpyeta fjLovrj, o^^^ Se
ova-ias vTToa-Taa-ei) to the man Christ, Who had been
formed by the Father in the womb of the virgin : in this
urn SACHEVERELL.
union, and on account of the same, He was called the
Son. Lastly, a third power proceeded from God, work-
ing in the body of the faithful, the Church, enlightening,
regenerating them, and perfecting their redemption :
this power was named the Holy Ghost. Sabellius, it
will therefore be seen, admitted a distinction between
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but not a dis-
tinction of persons, nor extending to eternity : His is no
other than a distinction of three names, of three appel-
lations of one and the same God, in the threefold rela-
tion of Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. The Re-
deemer is, indeed, different from the Creator, another
appearance {TrpoaoiTrov) ; not another hypostasis or person,
only another power, another representation, another ema-
nation from the Godhead, which, however, does not
continue in its individuality, but, like the emanation
named the Holy Ghost, returns, after the completion of
its office, to the Father, from Whom it had proceeded, as
a ray shot forth from the sun may be attracted back, and
again received into it. It is only an expansion, occur-
ring in time, and transitory, of the Father in the Son
and in the Holy Ghost. Sabellius compared his Trinity
to the union of the body, of the soul and of the mind in
one person; to the sun, in which, in one substance,
there are three distinct properties — the power of heat-
ing, the power of enlightening, and its circumference ;
and, lastly, to the distinction of graces which flow from
one spirit. This Trinity is, therefore, not immanent,
as is the Trinity of the Catholic Church, but emanent,
consisting only of external relations of God with the
world and with the Church. Sabellius fell into error
by confounding the interior with the exterior, — the eter-
nal wuth the temporal manifestation of God. — Cave.
Dollinger.
SACHEVERELL, HENEY.
Henet Sacheverell. The history of Sacheverell be-
SACHEVERELL. 261
longs rather to civil than to ecclesiastical history, and
our notice of him, therefore, need be but short. He was
born about 1673, was the son of a poor clergyman at
Marlborough, and was educated by the kindness of his
godfather, and placed at Magdalen College, Oxford, of^
which he became fellow. His regularity and polite
manners rendered him a favourite tutor in the college,
and his Latin poems, some of which appeared in the
Musse Anglicanas, proved him an elegant scholar and a
man of respectable talents. He was, at Oxford, chamber-
fellow with Addison, w^ho inscribed his Farewell to the
Muses to him, as his friend and colleague. He took
his degree of M.A. in 1696, and that of D.D. in 1708.
His first preferment was the living of Cannock, in
Staffordshire, to which, in 1705, was added the preach*
ership of St. Saviour's, Southwark.
In a sermon, preached at St. Paul's on the fifth of
November, 17 09, he inveighed against the ministry, the
Dissenters, and the Low Church ; against toleration, the
revolution, and the union; while he asserted the doc-
trines of non-resistance, and the divine right of kings.
This sermon, entitled, " The Perils of false Brethren,"
being printed, although a worthless composition, and
allowed, even by the Tories, to be a rhapsody of raving
and nonsense, gave offence to the ministry, who com-
plained of it to the Commons ; in consequence of which,
the prisoner was taken into custody and impeached.
After a solemn trial, which lasted three weeks, Atter-
bury, Smallridge, and Friend, assisting in the defence,
he was declared guilty, and suspended for three years.
His sermon was burnt before the Lord Mayor, in whose
presence it had been delivered ; and another book of the
author's, with a decree of the University of Oxford, on
the indefeasible right of kings, were consigned to the
same bonfire.
This sentence of the Peers, designed as a punishment,
was converted by the heat of party into a triumph. On
^Cr2 SADEEL.
proceding to North Wales, the preacher was everywhere,
but particularly in Oxford, greeted with the honours due
to a conqueror. In some places troops of horse lined
the road, and the corporations went forth to meet him ;
.in others, the hedges were festooned with garlands, the
steeples decorated with standards, flags, and colours,
and every man was marked out for vengeance and aggres-
sion, who refused to raise the cry of " The Church and
Sacheverell." At the expiration of his suspension, in
3 713, these popular congratulations were renewed; he
was requested to preach before the Commons, and the
Queen presented him to the living of St. Andrew's,
Holborn.
On his return to St. Saviour's, he preached in the
Christian Temple, on the duty of praying for our ene-
mies, and published his discourse. He now again ap-
peared as an author. He was a political tool, and not a
divine, and was one of those who set the example which
was followed for nearly a century afterwards of correcting
the Church of England, which belongs of right to all
parties in the state, with one particular faction. Hence
the Church, ill supported by that faction, has been an
object of hatred to all other factions, and especially to
the Whigs, whose hatred to the Church of England is
an hereditary prejudice. Sacheverell died on the 5th of
June, 1716. — HowelVs State Trials. Grant.
SADEEL, ANTHONY.
Anthony Sadeel was born at the Castle of Chabot, in
the Maconais, in 1534. He was educated at Paris in
Calvinistic principles. He studied also at Toulouse
and Geneva, and became acquainted with Calvin and
Beza. At twenty years of age he was appointed as
preacher at Paris. Here, he and his congregation were
subjected to various persecutions and misrepresentations,
SADEEL. 263
and he first appeared as an author in defence of these
proceedings. In 1558, he was cast into prison, from
which he was released by the intervention of the King
of Navarre.
He now removed to Orleans; and when the danger
seemed to be over he returned, and drew up a Confession
of Faith, first proposed in a synod of the reformed clergy
of France, held at Paris, which was presented to the
king by the famous admiral Coligni. The king dying
soon after, and the queen and the family of Guise renew-
ing with more fury than ever the persecution of the
reformed, Sadeel was obliged again to leave the metro-
polis. In 156-2, he presided at a national synod at
Orleans; and he then went to Berne, and finally to
Geneva, where he was associated with the ministers of
that place. Henry IV. gave him an invitation to his
court, which he accepted, and was chaplain at the battle
of Courtray, and had the charge of a mission to the
Protestant princes of Germany ; but unable at length to
bear the fatigues of a military life, which he was obliged
to pass with his royal benefactor, he retired to Geneva in
1589, and resumed his functions as a preacher, and
undertook the professorship of Hebrew. He died in
1591. Hie works are entitled, Antonii Sadeelis Clian-
dsei Nobilissimi Viri Opera Theologica, Geneva, 1592,
fol.; reprinted 1593, 4to ; and 1599 and 1615, fol.
They consist, among others, of the following treatises,
De Verbo Dei Scripto ; De Vera Peccatorum Remissione ;
De Unico Christi Sacerdotio et Sacrificio ; De Spirituali
et Sacramental! Manducatione Corporis Christi ; Posna-
niensium Assertionum Refutatio ; Refutatio Libelli Clau-
dii de Sainctes, intitulati, Examen Doctrinae de Coena
Domini ; Histoire des Persecutions et des Martyrs de
I'Eglise de Paris, depuis I'an 1557, jusqu'au Regno de
Charles IX.; this was printed at Lyons, in 1563, 8vo,
under the name of Zamariel ; and, Metamorphose de
Ronsard en Pretre, in verse. — Melchior Adam. Chalmers.
264 SAGE.
SAGE, JOHN.
In the life of this amiable and learned prelate, we shall
be enabled from his Life published by Bishop Gillan,
but more particularly from that prefixed to his works,
published by the Spottiswoode Society, to present our
readers with a view of the Church in Scotland in its
transition state as it passed from an establishment
into its present freedom from state control. Sage w^as
born at Creich, in Fifeshire, in 1652, being the son of
Captain Sage, and was educated at St. Andrew's. He
became M.A. in 1669, and became parish schoolmaster,
at Ballingray, in Fife, and afterwards at Tippermuir, in
Perthshire. He was afterwards tutor to the children of
Mr. Drummond of Cultmalundie, and accompanied his
sons to the University of St. Andrews's. He was not
ordained till 1686, when he officiated as a presbyter
in the city of Glasgow till the Revolution. What cure
he held is not known, but he was diocesan or Synod-
clerk. He had been noticed kindly by Dr. Rose, after-
wards Bishop of Edinburgh, and was ordained by the
Archbishop of Glasgow, the uncle of Dr. Rose. He
discharged his duties so well, that while his conduct
gained for him the esteem of members of the Church,
it procured for him also the good-will and respect of
those without her pale. There was a remarkable in-
stance of this in the treatment which he received at the
hands of the Hill men, v*^ho persecuted and insulted
the clergy just before the Revolution broke out.
These disorderly fanatics, who were generally of the
lower orders, were unswerving adherents to the Solemn
League and Covenant, violently opposed to the ''usurp-
ing'' goverment of the Stuarts, and animated by a deadl}'
hatred to every thing in any way connected with bishops
and their authority. Such being the main features in
the character of these zealots, they only wanted a good
SAGE. 265
opportunity for shewing their antipathy to the Church,
and inflicting injury and insult upon her ministers. In
the palmy days of the Covenant, after the famous 1638 —
those days when Henderson, and Loudon, and Johnston
of Warriston, were in the zenith of their popularity and
powers — they enjoyed such an opportunity, and they did
not fail to improve it. The day of their triumph happily
soon came to an end — Scotland was subdued by Crom-
well, and even Scottish Presbyterianism had to bow
down beneath the galling yoke of English Dissent.
" Greek had met Greek " in this case, and the result
was, that Cromwell ruled Scotland with a rod of iron,
and the Covenanters, in lamenting their own misfor-
tunes, were drawn off from persecuting the unfortunate
Prelatists. At the Restoration, the government of
Charles II., for its own security, kept a watchful eye
upon the movements of the Covenanters, and restrained
their irregularities by the strong arm of the law. At
the commencement of the reign of the ill-fated James,
the lawlessness of these disaffected persons was effec-
tually kept in check ; but upon the news of the landing
of the Prince of Orange in England, the king was
obliged to order all his standing forces in Scotland to
repair to the royal standard in the South. This, while it
weakened the Scottish government, left the country in
a defenceless state, and furnished a splendid occasion
to the discontented and fanatical for creating distur-
bances, and punishing those whom they chose to con-
sider Malignants. The Hillmen, or Cameronians, seized
the precious moment, and began a shocking system of
persecution and cruelty against the incumbents of the
different parishes, by which about two hundred ministers
and their families were driven from their houses in the
winter season, and cast upon the precarious benevolence
of their neighbours. Their method of procedure has
been thus narrated by a contemporary, and a sufferer from
their violence : — " They assembled themselves in the
VOL. VIII, A A
266 SAGE.
night time, and sometimes in the day, in small bodies,
armed ; and in a hostile way went through the countries,
forcing their entry into private men's houses, against
whom they had any private quarrel, but most ordinarily
into ministers' houses, where they with tongue and hands
committed all outrages imaginable against the ministers,
their wives and children ; where, having ate and drank
plentifully, at parting they used to carry the minister
out of his house to the churchyard, or some public place
of the town or village, and there expose him to the peo-
ple as a condemned malefactor — gave him strict charge
never to preach any more in that place, but to remove
himself and his family out of it immediately ; and for
the conclusion of all this tragedy, they caused his gown
to be torn over his head in a hundred pieces — of some
they spared not their very clothes to their skirts. When
they had done with the minister, they called for the keys
of the church, locked the door and carried the keys with
them ; and last of all they threw the minister's furniture
out of his house in many places, as the last act of this
barbarous scene. This was the most general method
when the minister was found at home, but in case he
was absent, they entered his house, made intimation
of their will and pleasure to his wife and servants, bid-
ding them tell him to remove from that place. If
they found not a ready obedience, they would return
and make him an example to others."
Such was the real character of the system of " rabbling,"
which the clergy had to endure about the period of the
Revolution. It seems, however, that the disorderly mob
treated Mr. Sage with more mercy than they displayed
generally to the rest of his brethren in the Diocese of
Glasgow ; for, as his venerable biographer quaintly
informs us — *' the saints contented themselves by giving
him a ivarning to depart from Glasgow, and threatenings
if he should ever adventure to return thither again."
This forbearance on their part was singular enough,
SAGE. 267
when' it is considered that Mr. Sage was a strenuous
opponent and an avowed disapprover of their principles
and conduct. As a minister of the everlasting Gospel,
which contains rules of faith and practice, he felt himself
imperatively called upon both by argument and pathetic
exhortation, to enforce the duty of loyalty and obedience
to the " powers that be," which he saw was much depre-
ciated by his countrymen. . Being firmly persuaded in
his own mind of the truth of the Apostolical Succession,
and convinced of the invalidity of Orders which do not
emanate from duly consecrated bishops, he was careful
in his sermons to set forth the necessity of communi-
cating with the Episcopal Church. Having marked in
the sacred Scriptures that striking feature of external
unity by which the Church of the blessed Kedeemer is
traced by the pens of the inspired writers, and the
warnings which are thickly strewn upon the pages of the
New Testament against " divisions," and instability in
matters of religion, he was wont loudly to censure the
prevalent disposition for " change," and to insist that
separation from the Church of Scotland — receiving the
Sacraments from other hands than those of her bishops,
and inferior clergy — and frequenting places of worship,
offered to God by unauthorised men, were acts, which
constituted the sin of schism, and involved those who
practised them in the serious consequences which the
Word of God denounces against it. In these his dis-
courses, he had. respect to two opposite parties by which
the Church was at that time attacked — 1st, To the
disciples of the Covenant, who, besides setting at nought
the command to " give unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar's," i.e. to obey the existing laws, and reverence
the persons of those in whom authority was invested,
carried their notions of " Gosjwl liberty' so far as to reject
every sort of restraint upon their religious opinions, and
to regard themselves as the only true interpreters of the
meaning of the Bible, and the late discoverers of the
ues SAGE.
Scriptural model of the Church of Christ. What the
pious and amiable Leighton used to say to them was
strictly characteristic — " That they made themselves the
standards of opinions and practices, and never looked
either abroad into the world, to see what others were
doing, nor yet back into the former times, to observe
what might be warranted or recommended by antiquity."
2nd,^ — To the members of the Romish schism, who,
though loyal so far as civil politics were concerned, were
the open enemies of the Church in Scotland. Believing
that the Bishop of Rome is, jure divino, the Supreme
Prelate of the Christian Church, and that all spiritual
authority must flow through him, they regarded the
Scotican Church, which rejected the Pope's authority
in Scotland, as schismatical, and zealously strove to
effect her overthrow both by secret stratagem and open
opposition.
To both these classes of men, the discourses of Mr.'
Sage were directed, and he wielded against them "the
sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God," — the
Word of God, not as interpreted by Scottish Covenan-
ting Presbyterians, nor by those who own the sway of
an Italian Bishop, but by the Catholic Church, making
herself heard in general Councils, the decrees of which
were afterwards universally received by Christians both
in the East and West — both in the Latin and Greek
Churches. It is easy to imagine that discourses of such
a nature were by no means palatable, and that a clergy-
man, who in the " west" of Scotland was so bold as to
preach them, stood a very fair chance of raising up a
host of enemies against himself. There is, however, an
intimate charm in consistency and earnestness, which
cannot fail to make an impression on all who are not
totally blinded by prejudice, and cause them, even though
they do not coincide with a man's opinions, to have re-
spect to his character. This was the case with Mr. Sage,
at this memorable crisis of our national ecclesiastical
SAGE. 269
history. An uncompromising Catholic himself, he en-
deavoured to persuade his schismatical countrymen to
come within the pale of the Church, because he firmly
believed her to be the only lawful dispenser of the Word
and Sacraments. But his exhortations breathed the
spirit of Christian charity, and evinced his affectionate
earnestness for the souls of the people. Thus the malice
of the enemies of the Church was disarmed, and they
were compelled to esteem the bold asserter of the Apos-
tolical claims. " To this," says Gillan, " it may in
gome measure be imputed that he escaped those out-
rageous insults and cruelties which the rabblers (after
the example of their schismatical forefathers — the Cir-
cumcilliones in Africk) acted against others of his bre-
thren, especially those who had trimmed."
Before the Revolution had occurred it was intended
to place him in the divinity chair at St. Andrew's, but
in the turmoil of the times the appointment was not
effected. It has been already stated, that by the with-
drawal of troops from Scotland at the outbreak of the
Revolution, the Cameronians, or Hillmen, were enabled
to exercise unheard of cruelties and insults towards the
members of the then Scottish Establishment, and that
by their illegal proceedings and fanatical violence, about
two hundred incumbents were ejected from their parishes.
We must now inquire in what light the new government
viewed the conduct of those zealots, and whether they
took any steps for restoring the unfortunate clergy to
their benefices, of which they had been unjustly deprived.
The sufferings of the clergy were so severe, that various
accounts were sent up to London concerning them, in
order to induce the authorities there to interfere in their
behalf. The Bishop of Edinburgh, and many of the
Scottish Episcopal Nobility, who were then in London,
applied to their friends in high stations about the court,
in the hope of persuading them to use their influence
for the afflited clergy. But these representations ^nd
A a3
S70 SAGE.
private appeals were all in vain. At last the clergy
resolved to send up a public petition, properly attested,
to the prince, and to depute one of their number to go
to court and present it. Dr. Scott, Dean of Glasgow,
was the person selected for this purpose. Having
arrived in London, he laid the petition before the Prince,
who saw at once the reasonableness of its prayer, and
issued a proclamation on the 6th FebiTiary 1689, order-
ing the peace to be kept, and forbidding any one from
being persecuted or disturbed in the exercise of his
religion, whatever that might be. But this proclama-
tion was disregarded by the rabblers, and a serious riot
occurred in the Cathedral of Glasgow on the very next
Sunday after it was issued. Another representation
therefore was made to the Prince of Orange through
Dr. Fall, the Principal of Glasgow College, who was
then in London ; but the only satisfaction, which he
obtained, was an assurance that the case of the perse-
cuted clergy should be referred to the Meeting of Estates,
which was to be held on the 14th of March.
The helpless ministers and their friends looked for-
ward with much anxiety to the approaching day. The
Estates were convened, and the first business of impor-
tance which they transacted was hearing a letter from
William read, recommending them " to enter with all
speed upon such consultations with regard to the public
good, and to the general interests and inclinations of
the people as may settle them on sure and lasting
foundations of peace." The macer entered the conven-
tion, bearing a letter from the king, dated on board the
St. Michael, 1st March, 1689, enjoining them to loyalty,
and threatening them with punishment if they were
disobedient. This epistle, however, was *' thrown aside
with cool indifference," and they passed a vote decla-
ratory of their determination " to continue undissolved
until they settle and secure the Protestant religion, the
government, Imvs, and liberties of the kingdom.'" This
SAGE. 271
declaration raised the hopes of the ejected ministers,
who were not conscious of having any tendency to
Popery, and who had rights and liberties sanctioned by
law, which required the protection of their legislators.
But, alas ! the bright prospects which had cheered them,
became speedily overcast with a gloomy and portentous
cloud. It soon became evident that theirs were not the
" rights and liberties " which were to be protected. For
numbers of the West Country mob came flocking into
Edinburgh, and took their station about the place of
meeting, where they insulted the Episcopal nobility and
gentry, and especially the bishops, who claimed a seat
in the Convention. The lives of the members were
endangered by their tumultuous and violent proceedings,
and accordingly the most obnoxious were obliged to retire
from the meeting, and many of them, Lord Dundee
among others, to leave the city, in order to escape the
plots formed for their destruction. Having by this
method of intimidation cleared the house of all " sus-
pected " persons, and having obtained a body of stand-
ing troops under General Mackay, the Convention passed
a vote of thanks to those very persons who had rabbled
the ministers, and complimented them as being " well
affected to the Protestant interest." This was extremely
disheartening to the ejected clergy, and greatly dimin-
ished their chance of redress. But the death-blow to
their hopes was yet to be fnflicted. On the 4th of April
the Meeting of Estates passed a vote that King James
had " forfaulted " his right to the Crown, and declared
the throne vacant. On the 11 th they brought in their
Claim of Right, in which the " Article" controverted by
Bishop Sage in the Fundamental Charter occurs, and
proclaimed William and Mary King and Queen of Scot-
land. As yet nothing was directly done either for or
against the clergy, and the Hillmen were amusing them-
selves, as usual, in rabbling them from their livings ;
but the minister of Ratho, near Edinburgh, having had
?272 SAGE.
a visit from these rioters, his case, which was specially
referred, brought the subject of their sufferings before
the Convention. And now came the fatal thrust. On
the 13th it was resolved, that King James should be
disowned — that all ministers of the Gospel should pray
by name for William and Mary, as the de jure sove-
reigns of the realm — and that the proclamation to this
effect should be read by all ministers in Edinburgh after
sermon next morning to their people, and by others on
such days as appointed, threatening them with depriva-
tion of their benefices if they refused to comply, and
promising protection to all " then in possession and
exercise of their ministry" who should obey it. It was
proposed as an amendment by the Duke of Hamilton,
the president, that those who had been forcibly extruded
from their parishes should be included in this conditional
protection of the government ; but this motion was over-
ruled, upon the ground that, if carried, it would '• dis-
oblige the Presbyterians," and might have very fatal
(political) consequences." Accordingly, the ** rabbled"
ministers and their starving families were omitted.
The Convention of Estates, to which they had been
taught to look for redress, turned a deaf ear to their cry,
and by drawing away the shelter of the law, gave fresk
encouragement to the mob to persevere in their lawless
course against them. While this was the case with
them, matters were not much better with their brethren,
who still held their livings. The suddenness of the
proclamation, and the importance of the duty required
of them, took the Edinburgh clergy quite by surprize,
and threw them into a state of perplexing doubt. They
did not receive the astounding command till late
on the Saturday evening, and they were ordered next
morning to dethrone a sovereign, and transfer their
allegiance to, and invoke the Divine blessing upon,
another. As was to have been expected, many of them
shrank from this difficult point of obedience, and begged
SAGE. 273
for time to consider. But those who did not comply
with the edict were called before the Council on the
following day, and forthwith deprived, although they
offered many substantial pleas in justification of their
conduct, in addition to that of the shortness of time
afforded them for consideration — as for instance that the
order to make public prayers for the new king and
queen did not come to them through their ordinaries,
whom alone, as conscientious ecclesiastics, they were
bound to obey — that William and Mary had not accepted
the crown — and other equally good reasons. All these
arguments, however, were of no avail. By a hasty
severity, unparalleled in Scottish history, the clergy in
all the surrounding neighbourhood, who refused to obey
the proclamation of the 13th of April, were ejected from
their benefices, and the rabble in the meanwhile were
anticipating the sharpness of the law. This posture of
affairs continued until the Convention was converted
into a parliament, which met under the authority of
William and Mary, June 5th, 1689. Henceforth the
"work" went more rapidly on. On the 19th of July,
the doom of the Church as an establishment was sealed,
by the passing of an act "abolishing prelacie." The
Parliament adjourned on the 2nd of August ; and on
the 22nd of the same month an edict was set forth
by the privy council, at the instigation of the Earl of
Crawford, " allowing and inviting parishioners and other
hearers to inform against ministers who had not read
the proclamation of the Estates, and prayed for King
William and Queen Mary."
Such a general invitation, proceeding from such an
authority, had a very ready obedience given to it by an
inflamed populace ; and as few men are without their
secret enemies, it afforded an ample' opportunity for the
gratification of private revenge. The result of it was,
that in the course of a short time almost all the parochial
clergy in the Merse, Lothians, Fife, Stirlingshire', Perth-
274 SAGE.
shire, besides some in Aberdeen, Moray, and Ross, were
expelled. But the most iniquitous of all the irregular
proceedings which occurred at this time, was an inhibitory
act of the privy council, passed 29th December, by which
the civil courts were enjoined not to take up the cases
of the rabbled clergy, who should appeal to them for
the recovery of their stipends, which had not been paid
before their expulsion. It must be remembered that
they had actually done the amount of labour, for which
they were justly entitled to remuneration, and the law,
if it had been permitted to have free course, would
undoubtedly have decided in their favour; but the act
of council precluded this, and shut their last remaining
door of relief. Such were some of the main features of
the proceedings which took place at this time.
Sage appears to have taken up his residence in Edin-
burgh after his having been " rabbled " out of Glasgow.
Here he eagerly embraced every opportunity which pre-
sented itself of applying the culture of true religion to
the souls of his countrymen, and of supporting the
cause of the Church. While any of the parochial in-
cumbents in the Scottish metropolis retained possession
of their churches, he was in the habit of assisting them
in the performance of Divine service, and of occasionally
relieving them from the burden of a sermon ; and after-
wards, when the " inquisitorial tribunal " of the Kirk,
acting upon the authority delegated to them by the
parliament of 1690, had "purged out all insufficient,
negligent, scandalous, and erroneous ministers,'" i. e. had
by a system of continual vexation and insult, deprived
all the Episcopal clergy in the city, both compilers and
noncompilers, of their livings, Mr. Sage was appointed
to the pastoral care of one of the principal " meeting-
houses " in Edinburgh. The members of the Church,
when they saw the clergy expelled from their parish
churches, very properly fitted up places of worship or
chapels in different parts of the city, in which they
SAGE. 275
might enjoy the benefit of authorized preaching, and
have the Sacraments "rightly and duly administered."
But he was not permitted long to pursue the even
tenor of his way, in fulfilling his pastoral duties to the
honour of God and the benefit of his fellow-Christians.
The relentless jealousy of the Presbyterians, not content
with driving the ministers from the parish churches,
pursued them even into the privacy of the " meeting-
houses ;" and with that selfish intolerance which was
the main feature of all their proceedings, they resolved
that the faithful people who adhered to the Church,
should be deprived of the valued privilege of hearing
the Word and receiving the Sacraments from those
persons, whom they had been taught to regard as the
■authorized priests of God. Accordingly, Mr. Sage and
others of his brethren were dragged before the privy-
council, and ordered to take the oath of allegiance and
assurance; and when they candidly avowed that their
conscientious scruples would not permit them to comply
with the mandate, they were not only " forbidden to
exercise any part of their ministerial function within
the city, but also banished thence by an act of the
council." It must be remembered, that those respec-
table men had already suffered the " loss of all things"
without complaint, and passively obeying the rigorous
laws of the Convention, had retired into private life that
they might possess " a conscience void of ofience ;" but
even here they were not allowed to remain in peace.
This is mentioned merely to show that Presbyterianism
has not always been that friend of " civil and religious
liberty," and " freedom of conscience," which its warm
supporters and advocates in later times would persuade
us to believe.
From Edinburgh he retired to Kinross, and was after-
wards chaplain in the family of the Countess of Callen-
dar, and tutor to the young earl. When his engagement
with Lady Callendar terminated, he became chaplain to
276 SAGE.
Sir James Stewart, of Grandtully. While officiating
in the " meeting house " at Edinhurgh, he had com-
menced the polemical warfare which ended only with
his life, and had sent forth some of those controversial
works which are such lasting monuments of his learning,
abilities, and zeal. It seems to have been a principle
with this eminent defender of Episcopacy to suffer no
assailant, in the least worthy of an opponent, to remain
long unmatched in the arena of controversy, and to
permit no public circumstance to pass by in silence,
if, by interfering, there was the slightest chance of
either vindicating or advancing " the suffering Church."
Thus, wherever he was, his watchful eye was intently
fixed upon the movements of the enemy, and closely
following them through all their torturous paths ; while
his ready pen, directed by learning and zeal, was
exerted in providing a counteracting remedy against
their erroneous statements and hostile designs. Al-
though, therefore, he had previousely written one or
two able pamphlets, which seemed to be called for by
passing events, his leasure and retirement at Kinross,
afforded him an opportunity of executing a larger and
more important work. Accordingly, at this time, he
devoted himself to writing a treatise entitled " The
Fundamental Charter of Presbytery, &c. examined and
disproved ; " and w^hen it was finished, he sent it to
London to be published ; for as he says himself in
another place " it were easier to pluck a star from the
firmament than to get anything published in Scotland
against the tyranny of Presbytery, or in vindication of
Episcopacy." The utmost care w^as used to conceal the
name of the author of these offensive works, and it was
hoped that the distance of the place of publication
would have assisted to screen him from the notice of
his enemies. In this, however, his friends were dis-
appointed, and upon an early occasion he had a toler-
ably strong proof given him, that he was a " marked
SAGE. 377
man," and had stirred up the wrath of the Presbyterians
against himself.
Being actuated by a great desire to see some dear
friends in Edinburgh, and having some private business
to transact there, he ventured to revisit the metropoUs ;
but he had no sooner appeared upon the street than a
privy-councillor, " whose greatest pleasure was to per-
secute the Episcopal clergy," lodged intimation against
him, and being apprehended, he was held to bail to quit
the town forthwith, although the authorities connived
at many of those who had been previously banished with
him, remaining in it. Expelled again from Edinburgh
by this severe order, he returned to Kinross, and still
further employed his learned and eloquent pen in de-
fence of the Church, and in confirmation of her prin-
ciples. At this time he reared that invincible bulwark
of Diocesan Episcopacy, entitled the " Cyprianic Age,"
the appearance of which sharpened the resentment of
the Presbyterians, and made them doubly anxious to
secure and silence so strenuous and powerful an oppo-
nent.
The most severe blow inflicted upon the Episcopal
clergy was dealt to them in 1695. An act of parliament
was then passed " prohibiting and discharging any Epis-
copal minister from hajnizing any children, or solem-
nizing marriage betwixt any parties in all time coming,
under pain of imprisonment" and perpetual exile! Like
the Apostles when prohibited to preach any more in the
Name of Jesus of Nazareth, the clergy chose rather to
obey the voice of God than the commands of men, and
using every precautionary method for avoiding detection,
they went about administering the Sacraments of reli-
gion, and preaching the Gospel to those, who knew the
value of their spiritual! authority, and adhered through
"evil report and good report" to their ministry. In
vain did the EpiscopaUans expostulate against the seve-
rity of the enactment, and represent it as striking at
VOL. VIII. B B
278 SAGE.
the very root of their faith, which required them at
least to have the Sacrments performed by proper admin-
istrators— the government was deaf to their earnest
entreaties, and their rehgious opponents exulted over
their depressed condition. In this state they remained
until the death of William in 1702, when a brighter
day dawned, and induced them to hope that the time
was now approaching when they would obtain " gentler
and more equitable treatment." Queen Anne ascended
the throne of her father, and her known attachment
to the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Church,
led the members of the suffering sister Church in Scot-
land to expect that she would sympathize wdth them,
and shelter them under her powerful protection, from
the tyranny of their schisraatical countrymen ; nor were
they altogether disappointed. Although the expected
relief did not arrive so soon as they could have wished,
the soothing answer which the queen gave to their
address and petition in the beginning of her reign, and
her pointed discouragement of all legal prosecutions
against them, greatly ameliorated the distressed state
of the Church, and revived the drooping spirits of her
members. The bare idea of toleration being granted
to the fallen Church — an event to which the course of
things pointed as likely to happen — roused the fears and
animosity of the Presbyterians : and their leading minis-
ters, in their sermons on public occasions, and through
the press, inveighed loudly against it. Hence in 1703,
a fierce polemical strife raged on this subject, and
various combatants appeared on the field — such as the
renowned David Williamson and Mr. George Meldrum,
on the side of the Kirk. Among the foremost of the
defenders of the Church, and of the rights of conscience
on this occasion, Mr. Sage came forth, and'seizing upon
Mr. Meldrum's " Reasons against Toleration," he over-
turned them by that masterly reply so well known under
the title of the " Reasonableness of Toleration," which
SAGE. 279
demonstrates not only the sound uncompromizing Church
principles of our author, but the solidity of his learning,
and the acuteness of his reasoning powers. Though
Mr. Sage did not live to reap the full reward of his
labour, his writings had an effect even at the moment.
The Church for a year or more " had rest " from out-
ward persecution, and a mighty change was working
in the human mind with regard to the futility of the
endeavour to fetter the conscience by acts of parliament,
and to coerce a man against his convictions to own
whatever system of religion the civil powers may choose
to establish.
During this brief period of tranquility, the attention
of the governors of the Church was turned upon them-
selves, and one of the most anxious subjects which
occupied their minds was the duty of providing for the
future succession of the Episcopal Order. By the death
of the aged primate, Dr. Ross, in 1704, the number of
bishops was reduced to five, most of whom, worn out
with years and calamity, were tottering on the brink of
the grave. In order, therefore, that the Apostolic line
might not be interrupted, the venerable survivors re-
solved to commit the sacred " Deposit" with which they
had been entrusted, to " other faithful men, apt to teach,
and govern." In consequence of this determination,
Mr. Sage, and Mr. Fullarton the ejected ministers of
Paisley, were selected by the fathers of the Church, as
persons fit to be elevated to the episcopate, and were
duly and canonically consecrated " in sacrario " of the
house of Archbishop Paterson, at Edinburgh, on the
25th of January, 1705 ; the Archbishop, Bishop Rose of
Edinburgh, and Bishop Douglas of Dunblane perform-
ing the holy rite.
While those persons were thus solemnly invested with
the episcopate, an agreement was entered into that they
were not to have diocesan authority, or to interfere at all
in the government of the Church. Expediency and the
^80 SAGE.
exigency of the Church were the inducements which led
the bishops to insist on this stipulation, and to make a
temporary deviation from the usual rule. It answered,
indeed, the immediate purpose, for which it was designed
by those excellent men, but like all other plans founded
upon a short sighted policy, it was at length productive
of great evil, and involved the Church in confusion
and unseemly disputes. The controversies between the
" College Party " and the assertors of " Diocesan Epis-
copacy," are too well known to require further notice
here.
Being raised to the episcopate, Bishop Sage seems to
have continued in the Grandtully family, executing his
high and useful duties for the benefit of the limited
circle around him.
Bishop Sage died in Edinburgh, 17th June, 1711.
His works are : — The Fundamental Charter ; The
Cyprianic Age ; The Vindication of the Cyprianic
Age ; An Account of the late Establishment of Pres-
bytery by the Parliament of Scotland in 1690; Some
Kemarks in a Letter from a Gentleman in the City to a
Minister in the Country, on Mr. David Williamson's
Sermon before the General Assembly, Edinburgh, 1703 ;
A Brief Examination of some things in Mr. Meldrum's
Sermon preached on the 6th of May, 1703, against a
Toleration to those of the Episcopal Persuasion; The
Eeasonableness of a Toleration of those of the Episcopal
Persuasion inquired into purely on Church Principles,
1704 ; The Life of Gawin Douglas, 1710 ; and an intro-
duction to the Works of Drummond of Hawthornden,
to which publication his friend the learned Ruddiman
lent his assistance. Bishop Sage also wrote the second
and third Letters concerning the persecution of the
Episcopal Clergy in Scotland, and left several unfinished
MSS., one intended to have been a system of Divinity,
in which the Church and the Sacraments, as the chan-
nels of grace, were to have occupied their proper place ;
SAINCTES. 281
another containing a review of the Westminster Con-
fession— a Treatise on the Culdees, and a History of the
Commission of the General Assembly. — Life prejiiced to
Works. Bishop Gillan. Bishop Russell.
SAGITTARIUS, GASPAR.
Gaspar Sagittarius was born at Lunenburg, in 1643,
and in 1674, became professor of history at Halle. He
died in 1674. He wrote : — On Oracles; On the Gates
of the Ancients; The Succession of the Princes of
Orange; History of the City of Herderwich ; Tractatus
Varii de Historia Legenda; Historia Antiqua Nori-
bergae ; Origin of the Dukes of Brunswick ; History of
Lubeck; Antiquities of the Kingdom of Thuringia;
History of the Marquises and Electors of Brandenburg,
and many others, enumerated by Niceron. — Niceron.
Moreri.
SAINCTES, CLAUDE DE.
Claude de Satnctes, in Latin Sanctetius, was born at
Perche, in 1595, and was admitted a canon regular of
St. Cheron, near Chartres, at the age of fifteen. After
passing through various preferments he was, in 1561,
appointed principal of the College of Boissy, at Paris,
and was employed as a champion for the Romish cause
at the Conference of Poissy. He was one of the twelve
French doctors sent to the Council of Trent, and in
1575, he was made by Henry III. Bishop of Evreux.
Forgetful of the royal favour he had received, he sup-
ported with vehemence the interests of the League.
Having been made prisoner by the troops of Henry IV. his
papers were examined, and were found to contain an
attempt to justify the assassination of Henry III.; for
B b3
282 SALTMARSH.
which he was tried and condemned to be put to death
as a traitor. However, in consequence of the interces-
sion of the Cardinal de Bourbon, and some other pre-
lates, his life was spared, and his sentence commuted
for perpetual imprisonment. He died at the Castle of
Crevecseur in 1591, when about sixty-six years of age.
The most considerable of his works are : — a Treatise
in Latin On the Eucharist, forming a large volume inr
folio, which was printed in 1576, and has been much
used by subsequent writers on the Catholic side of the
question ; and an edition of a curious collection, entitled,
Liturgise, sive Missse Sanctorum Patrum : Jacobi Apos-
toli, et Fratris Domini, Basilii magni, Johannis Chry-
sostomi, &c., 1560, 8vo, including several chapters of his
own composition. Excepting The Acts of the Council
of Rouen in 1581, which he published in Latin and
French, and his own Synodal Statutes, his other works
were all controversial. — Dupin. Moreri.
SALMERON, ALPHONSO.
Alphonso Salmeron was born at Toledo, in 1516.
Going to Paris to complete his studies, he, with his
friend James Laynez, surrendered himself to the gui-
dance of Ignatius Loyola, underwent the initiating
discipline of the spiritual exercises, and came forth
from the process fired with zeal to carry forward the
intentions of his master. He died at Naples, in 1585.
His works which contain Commentaries on the Scrip-
tures, were published in 8 vols. fol. (See the Life of
Loyola.)
SALTMARSH, JOHN.
John Saltmarsh was a Yorkshireman, and educated at
SAMPSON. 2S3
Magdalen College, Cambridge. He was a chaplain to the
army of Fairfax, a rebel in politics, > and an Antinomian
in religion. He died at Elford, in Essex, in 1647. He
published : — Free Orace, or the Flowings of Christ's
Blood freely to Sinners ; Shadows flying away ; The
Smoak in the Temple ; D awnings of Light ; Sparkles
of Glory ; and, Wonderful Predictions. These books
made a great noise, and were answered by writers of
no ordinary name, particularly by the learned Thomas
Gataker. — Gen. Diet.
SAMPSON, THOMAS.
The public history of Sampson is so closely connected
with that of Humphrey, that to the Life of Humphrey
the reader is referred. (See also the Life of Parker.)
Thomas Sampson was born at Playford, in Surrey, about
the year 1617, and, according to Strype, was educated
at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, according to Wood, at
Oxford. He objected to the habits at his ordination by
Archbishop Cranmer, who seems to have yielded to the
scruples expressed by himself and some others. In
1551, he was presented to the living of All Hallows,
Bread Street, London, which he resigned in 1553. In
1554, he was promoted to the Deanery of Chichester.
On the accession of Mary, he at first concealed himself,
aud then fled to Strasburg, where he found a refuge.
He had some share in the Geneva Bible. On the acces-
sion of Elizabeth he returned home, not only confirmed
in his aversion to the habits, but with such a dislike
to the episcopal office, that he refused the Bishopric
of Norwich. He continued, however, to preach, parti-
cularly at St. Paul's Cross, where his wonderful memory
and eloquence were greatly admired. In September,
1560, he wa^s made a prebendary of Durham; and in
Michaelmas term, 1561, he was installed Dean of Christ
284 SAMPSON.
Church, Oxford. At this time Sampson and Humphrey
were the only Proteetant preachers at Oxford of any
celebrity. In 1562, he resigned his prebend of Durham,
and became so open and zealous in his invectives against
the habits, that, after considerable forbearance, he was
cited, in 1564, with Dr. Humphrey, before the high
commission court at Lambeth, and was deprived of his
deanery, and for some time imprisoned. Notwithstand-
ing his nonconformity, however, he was presented, in
1568, to the mastership of Wigston Hospital, at Lei-
cester, and had likewise, according to Wood, a prebend
in the Cathedral of St. Paul, London. The queen also
permitted him to hold the theological lectureship at
Whittington College, in the metropolis, to which he had
been elected by the Cloth Workers' Company.
Mr. Soames observes that Sampson and Humphrey
have left an authentic record of their sentiments, on the
vesture question, in a letter to Bullinger, conjointly
signed. The learned Swiss had argued for the habits
on civil grounds. His English correspondents consider
this reasoning unsound. Usages derived from the
enemies of their religion, they contend could not be
adopted without injuring it. Against such apparel, too,
they protested, as a revival of abrogated Mosaic cere-
monies, and an unsuitable adaptation to the simple
ministry of Christ, of that which had served the Popish
priesthood for theatric pomp. To that body and its
friends they represent this concession as a triumph :
occasioning exulting appeals to Otho's Constitutions,
and the Pontifical, in proof that Protestants had been
glad of dresses borrowed from their adversaries. This
concession is lamented also as redolent of monkery,
no less than of Popery and Judaism, as savouring of
Pharisaical precision ; as the first step by which a con-
ceit of sanctity in garments may again creep over men.
Bucer is afterwards mentioned as an authority for deny-
ing that prescribed apparel agrees with Christian liberty.
SAMPSON. 285
He wished all such distinctions abolished, mindful of
present abuse, anxious for a fuller declaration of detest-
ing Antichrist, for a removal of all dissension among
brethren. Such were the reasons why they strove to
have every trace of Antichristian superstition buried in
eternal oblivion ; why they could not agree to the obtru-
sion of that which does not edify the Church; why
they felt unable to join sound doctrine with halting
worship ; why they would not maim Christ, when He
might be entire, pure, and perfect ; why they preferred
a pattern from reformed brethren, to one from Popish
enemies ; why they shrank from dishonouring the ser-
vice of that heavenly leader whom they and their foreign
friends equally obeyed, by raising hostile banners, which
it was their duty to demolish and detest.
Everything from such men as Sampson and Hum*
phrey, must at least be specious. Their objections
have but slender chance of winning any higher character
in modern times. But ability, aided by perseverance,
will command attention from any age. In this case, too,
were high moral worth, considerable station, and recent
sufferings. Opposition to power and estahlished autho-
rity is, besides, always popular. The dean of Christ
Church, and the president of Magdalen, became, accor-
dingly, the leaders of a powerful, energetic, and uncom-
promising party. This must, however, be considered
as accidental, neither of these remarkable men, appa-
rently, having ever calculated upon any such distinction,
or being likely to desire it. Humphrey's disposition
was, indeed, eminently mild and moderate. Sampson
showed himself more unbending, but his temper was
very different from that of many who continued t?ie
resistance that he and his brother-head began.
He died in 1589. He married Latimer's niece, by
whom he had two sons. His works are : — Letter to
the professors of Christ's Gospel, in the parish of All-
hallows in Bread-street, Strasburg, 1554, 8vo ; this is
^86 SANCROFt.
reprinted in the Appendix to Strype's Ecclesiastical
Memorials : A Warning to take heed of Fowler's Psalter,
London, 1576 and 1578, Svo; this was a Popish Psalter,
published by John Fowler, once a Fellow of New College,
Oxford, but who went abroad, turned printer, and printed
the Popish controversial works for some years ; Brief
Collection of the Church and Ceremonies thereof; and.
Prayers and Meditations Apostolike ; gathered and
framed out of the Epistles of the Apostles. He was
also editor of Two Sermons of John Bradford, on Ptepen-
tance, and the Lord's Supper. Baker ascribes to him
a Translation of a Sermon of John Chrysostome, of
Pacience, of the End of the World, and the Last Judg-
ment, 1550, Svo; and of An Homelye of the Piesurrec-
tion of Christ by John Brentius, 1550, 8vo. — Strpye.
Wood. Soames.
SANCEOFT, WILLIAM.
William Sancroft was born at Fresingfield, in Suffolk,
in 1616. He received his primary education at Bury
School, and proceeded thence to Emanuel College, Cam-
bridge, of which he became a fellow in 1642. Several
Letters addressed by him to his father have been pub-
lished by Dr. D'oyley, and they impress us with the
great amiability of the writer, especially one which
relates to the death of a college friend. The Dissenters
being in the ascendant in 1649, they deprived him of
his fellowship. But though driven from the university,
and silenced in the pulpit, he knew that the press was
still open to him, and through it he sought to further
the cause of social order and true religion. Two im-
portant publications proceeded about this time from his
pen, which were extensively circulated and read with
great avidity ; both admirably adapted as prescriptions
to heal the distempers of the times, and to induce a
more healthful state of the political body.
SANCROFT. 287
The first of these, in Latin, was called Fur Praedes-
tinatus, being intended to expose the doctrines of rigid
Calvinism, the extensive prevalence of which had ad-
vanced very far in destroying all just and sound views
of religion. The second, entitled " Modern Policies,
taken from Machiavel, Borgia, and other choice authors,"
was designed to hold up to deserved contempt the hollow
and false policy which had been too successful in raising
many worthless and profligate persons to stations of
authority.
He seems to have supported himself on his small
paternal property, and out of that he saved something
to assist poor Churchmen worse off than himself. In
1659, he went abroad, but did not stay long, as at the
Restoration he was appointed chaplain to Dr. Cosin,
now appointed to the Bishopric of Durham, and at the
consecration of his patron, with six other new bishops,
he was selected to be the preacher. The Convocation
assembled on the 8th of May, 1661, in which the last
revision of our Prayer Book took place. It is well
known that Mr. Bancroft was eminently useful in assis-
ting in these alterations, although it is not easy to ascer-
tain on what particular parts of the work, or to what
extent, his services were employed. As he was not a
member of the Convocation at the time, for he then held
no preferments, his name does not appear among those
to whom the preparation of any portion of the work was
committed; and it seems that he was only privately
employed, probably by the recommendation of Bishop
Cosin, who bore a considerable share in this business,
and in consequence of the confidence reposed in his
talents, learning, and judgment.
However it is specially recorded that he assisted in
rectifying the calendar and the rubrics, and that, after the
work was completed, he was one of those appointed
by an order of the Upper House of Convocation for the
supervision of the press. In the common accounts of
^88 SANCROFT.
his life, it is stated that he was the author of the
Forms of Prayer prepared for the 30th of January and
'^9th of May. But this does not appear from any com-
petent authority. Bishop Burnet gives a remarkable
account of this matter : he states, that when the new
offices for the 30th of January and the 29th of May
were under preparation, Sancroft drew them up in too
high a strain ; that those which he produced were in
consequence rejected, and others of a more moderate
character adopted in their room. He adds, that, after-
wards, when Sancroft was advanced to the See of Can-
terbury, he procured the substitution of his own offices
in the place of those formerly adopted, and got them
" published by the king's authority, at a time when so
high a style as was in them did not sound well to the
nation."
As Burnet himself had no concern in the transaction,
and does not state the authority from which he derived
his information, it is impossible to ascertain in what
degree there is any foundation for his representation.
Two circumstances, however, should be mentioned to
show that his statements are not strictly accurate. The
first is, that, in the office for the 30th of January, no
alteration of the slightest importance was made when
Sancroft held the primacy, or has been made at any
period subsequently to the first preparation of it : for
it stands now, with very immaterial exceptions, precisely
in the same form as it did at first. The second is, that
the office for the 29th of May, as it was adopted with
alterations after the death of Charles II. and during the
primacy of Archbishop Sancroft, could not have been
precisely that which he first proposed but which was
rejected. For the 29th day of May being the day of
King Charles's birth, as well as of his return, the office
during his life-time was adapted to both these events.
After his death, alterations were necessarily required,
in order to make the office commemorative solely of the
SANCROFT. 28a
Restoration of the royal family. It is true that some
further alterations and substitutions took place at this
time ; and perhaps it may be allowed that mention is
made in the new office of the Rebellion, and those con-
cerned in it, in stronger terms than had been done in
the former office, and this is probably the foundation
of Burnet's assertion, that an office was adopted " of
a higher strain." These alterations were of course made
under Archbishop Sancroft's authority, although the fact
of their having been introduced by himself, rests only
on the statement of Bishop Burnet.
The rapidity of Sancroft's rise seems to be surprising,
as industrious mediocrity rather than great talents or
profound learning was his characteristic. In 1662, he
was elected master of Emanuel College, Cambridge ; in
1664, he was appointed Dean of York, and soon after
he was removed to the Deanery of St. Paul's. In this
new situation he contributed much to the repairing of the
cathedral ; and when it was destroyed by the fire of
London, he gave £1400 towards rebuilding it. In
1668, he was presented to the Archdeaconry of Canter-
bury by Charles II., who, in 1677, raised him to the
See of Canterbury.
A more meek and gentle spirit few persons have pos-
sessed than Archbishop Sancroft, but he was called to
take his part in stirring times, when his firm principles
enabled him to act a part which, if not the wisest accor-
ding to our present notions, was certainly such as to
command universal respect. And occasions were not
wanting, on which Archbishop Sancroft maintained the
disciphne of the Church with a just degree of dignity
and firmness. A remarkable and unusual instance of
this occurred in his suspension of Dr. Thomas Wood,
Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, from his episcopal
functions, on account of his neglect of his diocese and
other misdemeanours. In this bishop we have an un-
happy example of a very undeserving person raised to
VOL. VIII. c c
290 SANCROFT.
that important and dignified station in the Church by
most unworthy and disgraceful means. It is recorded
that he obtained his bishopric immediately from Charles
II., through the interest of the Duchess of Cleveland,
and that he recommended himself to her, by contriving
that his niece, a wealthy heiress, to whom he was guar-
dian, should marry the Duke of Southampton, son of
the duchess. After he was placed in the bishopric, he
grossly neglected the concerns of the diocese, residing
entirely out of it, and performing none of the functions.
In addition to this, he refused to build an episcopal
house, although he received money for this purpose from
the heirs of his predecessor, and although he cut down
from the >estates of the see, as for this building, timber,
which he afterwards sold. The Archbishop of Canter-
bury considered that a case of this flagrant nature
demanded the interference of his metropolitan authority.
He accordingly, in April, 1684, suspended Bishop Wood
from his episcopal dignity and functions. The bishop
submitted some time after, and the suspension was taken
off in May, 1686. However, this exercise of authority,
temperedwith mildness, unfortunately seems to have failed
in producing the desired effect ; for the bishop appears to
have continued in the habit of residing at a distance
from his diocese, and of neglecting its concerns.
Archbishop Bancroft, though enthusiastically loyal, was
devoted to the cause of true religion and the Church of
England, and when a traitor king was on the throne,
who sought to use his prerogative for the purpose of
introducing Popery, he dared to defy him and to main-
tain the sacred cause at the head of which he was
providentially placed. He certainly acted too cautiously
at first. When James appointed illegally an ecclesiastical
commission, Archbishop Bancroft refused to act upon
it, though nominated its head, but he only pleaded ill-
health, though by his being forbidden the court, it is
o\ed.v that his real feeling was understood.
SANCROFT. 291
We must enter into further detail in regard to the
events of the reign of James II., and we shall avail
ourselves of the brief but spirited sketch of the iniqui-
tous proceedings of the traitor king, given by Mr.
Chermside, in his lecture on the trial and acquittal
of the Seven Bishops.
In 1688, a bill was drawn up and prepared to be laid
before the parliament, entitled " An act for granting of
Liberty of Conscience, without imposing of oaths and
tests," — but before any parliamentary steps were taken
in the matter, the king on the 27th of April, thought
fit to republish his declaration of indulgence, and im-
mediately thereupon appeared the following announce-
ment in the Gazette : —
" At the Court at Whitehall, May 4th.
" It is this day ordered, by his majesty in council, that
his majesty's late gracious declaration, bearing date the
27th of April last, be read at the usual time of divine
service, on the 20th and 27th of this month, in all
churches and chapels, within the cities of London and
Westminster, and ten miles thereabout: and upon the
3rd and 10th of June next, in all other churches and
chapels throughout this kingdom. And it is hereby
further ordered, that the right reverend the bishops
cause the said declaration to be sent and distributed
throughout their several and respective dioceses to be read
accordingly."
This was a blow well struck — well struck, that is, if
it should prove successful ; but if not, then most disas-
trous for the striker, as the event shewed beyond a doubt.
Every eye in England, Churchman's, Nonconformist's,
Romanist's, must needs be fixed upon the Bishops of
the Church : the breathless anxiety of a whole nation
awaited their decision, and the decision must be speedy,
that is, if we remember the difficulties which then im-
peded communication, and seemed likely to preclude a
293 SANCROFT.
ready concert between the prelates. The clergy of Lon-
don in those days enjoyed, as a body, a great reputation
for worth and learning. Fowler and Patrick, Stilling-
fleet, Sherlock, and Tillotson, were of their number;
they met in consultation, and determined for their part
to refuse the reading of the king's declaration. This
resolution they made known to the archbishop, who had
been busy in the meantime to summon to his council as
many of his brethren as it was possible. A copy of the
letter which he despatched to them on the occasion is pre-
served in his own hand-writing.
" My Lord, — This is only in my own name, and in
the names of some of our brethren, now here upon this
place, earnestly to desire you immediately upon the
receipt of this letter to come hither with what conve-
nient speed you can, not taking notice to any that you
are sent for. Wishing you a prosperous journey and
us all a happy meeting.
" I remain your loving brother."
On the 12th of May, a meeting took place at Lambeth,
where there were present, besides Sancroft, the Earl of
Clarendon, three bishops, Compton, Turner, and White,
together with Tenison ; and it was then resolved not to
read the declaration; but to petition the king to dis-
pense with the obedience of the prelates, and to entreat
all those within reach of London "to repair to the aid of
their brethren forthwith. On the 18th another meeting
took place at the archbishop's; the proposed petition
was drawn up, written in the primate's own hand, and
subscribed as well by him as by the following: — Dr.
Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Ken, of Bath and
Wells, Dr. Turner, of Ely, Dr. Lake of Chichester, Dr.
White, of Peterborough, and Sir Jonathan Trelawney,
of Bristol.
SANCROFT. ^0S
**The humble petition of William, Archbishop of
Canterbury, and of divers of the suffragan bishops
of that province (now present with him,) in behalf
of themselves and others of their absent brethren,
and of the clergy of their respective dioceses,
humbly sheweth, —
*• That the great averseness they find in themselves
to the distributing and publishing in all their churches
your majesty's late declaration for liberty of conscience,
proceedeth neither from any want of duty and obedience
to your majesty ; our holy mother the Church of England
being both in her principles and in her practice unques-
tionably loyal, and having, to her great honour, been
more than once publicly acknowledged to be so by your
gracious majesty ; nor yet from any want of due tender-
ness to Dissenters, in relation to whom they are willing
to come to such a temper as shall be thought fit, when
that matter shall be considered and settled in parliament
and convocation. But among many other considerations,
from this especially, because that declaration is formed
upon such a dispensing power, as hath been often de-
clared illegal in parliament, and particularly in the years
1662 and 1672, and the beginning of your majesty's
reign ; and is a matter of so great moment and conse-
quence to the whole nation, both in Church and State,
that your petitioners cannot in prudence, honour, or
conscience, so far make themselves parties to it, as the
distribution of it all over the nation, and the solemn
publication of it once and again, even in God's house
and in the time of His Divine Service, must amount to,
in common and reasonable construction.
"And your petitioners will ever pray."
The petition once drawn up and signed, there was
no trace of hesitation or delay visible in the conduct of
the bishops. Sancroft, who as we have already stated,-
had the honour to be under the king's especial displea-
c c3
^U SANCROFT.
sure, for having denied to the Ecclesiastical Commission
the sanction of his venerable name, was unable to appear
at court, indeed had been for two years forbidden so to
do. — (See Life of Bishop Compton.) — But the other six
subscribers proceeded at once to seek an interview from
the king, in order to present their petition. Of this
interview no better account can be given than that which
is printed amongst the other MSS. of the archbishop,
of which the originals are in the Bodleian Library,
at Oxford.
In the evening of the same day, the petition being
finished, all the subscribers, except the archbishop, who
had been forbidden the court almost two years before,
went over to Whitehall to deliver it to the king. In
order thereto the Bishop of St. Asaph went first to the
Earl of Middleton, principal secretary, in the name of
all the rest, to desire his assistance for the introducing
them to his majesty ; but he had been sick for a fort-
night before, and so confined to his chamber. Then
St. Asaph, (his brethren staying at the Earl of Dart-
mouth's house,) went and made the like application to
the Earl of Sunderland, desiring him to peruse the
petition, and acquaint his majesty with it, that he might
not be surprised at the delivery of it; and, withal, to
beseech his majesty to assign the time and place, when
and where, they might all attend him, and present this
petition. The earl refused to inspect the petition, but
went immediately and acquainted the king with their
desire, and they were presently thereupon brought to
the king in his closet, within his bed-chamber, when the
Bishop of St. Asaph, with the rest (all being upon their
knees,) delivered their petition to his majesty. The
king was pleased (at first) to receive the petitioners and
their petition very graciously, and upon the first opening
of it to say. This is my Lord of Canterbury's own hand ?
to which the bishops replied, Yes, sir, it is his own hand.
SANCROFT. 295
But the king having read it over, and then folding it up,
said thus, or to this effect : —
" King. — This is a great surprise to me : here are
strange words. I did not expect this from you. This
is a standard of rebellion.
** St. Asaph, and some of the rest, replied, that they
had adventured their lives for his majesty, and would
lose the last drop of their blood rather than lift a finger
against him.
" King, — I tell you this is a standard of rebellion. I
never saw such an address.
" Bristol (falling down upon his knees) said. Rebellion !
Sir, I beseech your majesty, do not say so hard a thing
of us. For God's sake do not believe we are, are can be,
guilty of a rebellion. 'Tis imposible that I or any of my
family should be so. Your majesty cannot but remember
that you sent me down into Cornwall to quell Monmouth's
rebellion, and I am as ready to do what I can to quell
another, if there were occasion.
" Chichester. — Sir, we have quelled one rebellion, and
will not raise another.
" Ely. — We rebel, sir ! We are ready to die at your
feet.
" Bath and Wells. — Sir, I hope you will give that
liberty to us which you allow to all mankind.
" Peterborough. — Sir, you allow liberty of conscience to
all mankind ; but really this declaration is against our
conscience.
" King. — I will keep this paper. 'Tis the strangest
address I ever saw ; it tends to rebellion. Do you ques-
tion my dispensing powers ? Some of you have printed
and preached for it when it was for your purpose.
" Peterborough. — Sir, what we say of the dispensing
power refers only to what was declared in parliament.
" King. — The dispensing power was never questioned
by the Church of England.
'• St. Asaph. — It was declared against in the first
296 SANCROFT.
parliament, called by his late majesty, and by that
which was called by your majesty.
" King. — (Insisting upon the tendency of the petition
to rebellion) said, He would have his declaration pub-
lished.
" B. and W. — We are bound to fear God and honour
the king. We desire to do both ; we will honour you,
we must fear God.
" King. — Is this what I have deserved, who have sup-
ported the Church of England, and will support it? I
will remember you that have signed this paper, I will
keep this paper ; I will not part with it, I did not expect
this from you ; especially some of you. I will be obeyed
in publishing my declaration.
" B. and W. — God's will be done.
" King.— What's that?
** B. and W. — God's wiU be done, and so said Peter-
borough.
" King. — If I think fit to alter my mind, I will send
to you. God hath given me this dispensing power,
and I will maintain it. I tell you there are seven
thousand men, and of the Church of England too, that
have not bowed their knees to Baal.
" This is the sum of what passed ; as far as the
bishops could recollect it ; and this being said they were
dismissed."
The same night the petition was printed and circu-
lated ; by whom it is not known, certainly not by the
bishops themselves ; but all London and all England
soon knew that the Church and the Crown were fairly
confronted. The bishops had parried the blow, and the
king must either strike again or tacitly allow himself to
be defeated. As for the declaration and the order to
read it in the churches, they were waste paper; the
chief effect produced by this publication being this, that
Baxter and all the wiser and truer of his Nonconformist
SANCROFT. 29t
brethren, took occasion to use the granted indulgence of
preaching to thank and to extol the bishops for their
determination. In London,, four only of the parochial
clergy could be found to read it — in all England not
above two hundred, out of a body of ten thousand,
would do so; and in the diocese of Durham, Bishop
Crew, a creature of the king's, is said to have suspended
nearly two hundred of his clergy for refusing to read to
their people the royal declaration. Even in those few
churches where the reading was attempted, the congre-
gations in many cases rose and left the churches so soon
as the first words were pronounced. Such was the case
at Westminster Abbey, where Sprat, the Bishop of
Rochester, officiated as dean, and could scarce hold the
paper in hand for trembhng. At Whitehall it was read
by a chorister, for want of a better ; at Sergeant's Inn,
the chief justice desiring it to be read, the clerk signifi-
cantly declared that he had forgotten it. Similar scenes
were enacted upon the second of the two appointed Sun-
days. On that day, however, the 27th of May, the king
had taken his resolution, and late in the evening a king's
messenger arrived at Lambeth to serve upon the arch-
bishop a summons, by which he was required to appear
before his majesty in council, on the eighth of June,
to answer for a misdemeanor ; a similar summons was
served at once upon such others of the right reverend peti-
tioners as were then in London, and despatched after
the absent ones into their several dioceses.
On the day appointed, about five in the evening, the
whole seven attended at Whitehall, and upon being ques-
tioned by the chancellor and the king as to the genuine-
ness of the petition, whether it was indeed in the arch-
bishop's hand, they at first, acting upon the advice of
their counsel, were unwilling to be explicit in answer.
The archbishop addressed himself to James and said,
" Sir, I am called hither as a criminal, which I never
was before in my life, and little thought I ever should
S98 SANCROFT.
be, and especially before your majesty; but since it
is my unhappiness to be so at this time, I hope
your majesty will not be offended that I am cau-
tious of answering questions. No man is obliged to
answer questions that may tend to the accusing of
himself."
His majesty called this chicanery, and hoped he would
not deny his hand ; whereupon Lloyd, of St. Asaph,
urged that all divines of all Christian churches were
agreed in allowing a man in their circumstances to
refuse an answer. Still the king pressed for one, and
at last, the primate said, that if he gave one it must
be at the king's express command, " trusting to your
majesty's justice and generosity that we shall not suffer
for our obedience." The king refused then to give an
express command, and the chancellor bade them then
to withdraw ; they did so for a short time, and, upon
their return, were commanded expressly by James to
answer, and then, conceiving their condition to be
allowed, they owned the petition. Again they were
bidden to withdraw, and a third time were summoned
into the royal presence for the purpose of being told
by Jeffreys that they should be proceeded against " with
all fairness, so he was pleased to say, in Westminster
Hall ; they were then desired to enter into recogni-
zances ; but to this also, by the advice given beforehand
to them by eminent counsel, they objected; and although
the archbishop professed himself and his brethren ready
to appear and answer whensoever they should be called
upon, neither the king nor the chancellor upon that
occasion, nor the Earl of Berkeley, who afterwards
endeavoured to alter their determination, could prevail
upon them to disregard their determination, could pre-
vail upon them to disregard their counsel's advice.
The key to their conduct on this occasion is to be found
in a letter from the Bishop of Ely to the primate which
runs as follows :— -
SANCROFT. 290
" Ely House, Friday mom.
** May it please your grace, — We spent much time
yesternight with our ablest and kindest advisers, who
are unanimous in their opinion, that we should by no
means answer particular questions, but keep to the
generals ; what are the matters of misdemeanour against
us ; and desire a copy of our charge. Two of our num-
ber had a long discourse (even 'till past eleven at
night) with Sir R. Sawry, from whom we received more
instruction than from all the rest. That conference is
summed up in the enclosed half sheet of paper, and
our measures of answering are set down to us. The
other papers are the minutes out of the counsel's book
in my Lord Lovelace's case. All our wise friends are
of the mind that we should give no recognizances. We
shall attend your grace between two and three. (Cum
deo.) Your grace's most obedient servant,
"Fea. Ely."
The next step was taken by the king : the bishops were
committed to the Tower, by a warrant which fourteen
privy councillors subscribed, and at the same time an
order in council (signed by nineteen hands, amongst
which is observable that of Father Peter the Jesuit) was
issued for their prosecution by the law officers of the
crown in the court of King's Bench.
Never, perhaps, if we except the day on which these
same illustrious and venerable accused were taken from
their prison to the Justice-hall at Westminster, never
were the banks of lordly Thames the theatre of such a
scene, as they displayed, when these reverend champions
of a nation's and a church's liberties embarked under
an armed escort for the Tower of London. You might
have thought, but for their unwonted attendants, that
these prelates were pacing in solemn procession the long
drawn isle of some giant cathedral ; for on the river's
banks a countless multitude, forgetful of the noise and
300 SANCROFT.
riot of a popular display of feeling, knelt in reverence
to receive with prayers and tears the dignified and calm
benediction of the persecuted Churchmen. Nay, the
very guards caught the spirit of the crowd's emotion, for
they too upon landing, knelt, and craved the blessing
of their prisoners. It was a solemn hour too, that hour
of landing, it was the time of evening prayer, and from
the barge that brought them, the bishops forthwith betook
themselves to the Tower Chapel, where, by a coincidence
that did not fail to strike the minds of all men, the
second lesson for the evening service proved to be that
chapter of St, Paul, in which these fitting words occur :
" Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be
not blamed ; but in all things approving ourselves as
ministers of God, in much patience, in affiictions, in
necessities, in distress, in stripes, in imprisonment."
The fifteenth day of June saw again upon the river a
band of prisoners passing in solemnity and triumph to
their trial. A writ of Habeas brought the bishops upon
that day before the King's Bench. " Of the immense
concourse of people," says the Pope's Nuncio, writing to
his court the events of that day — " who received them
on the banks of the river, the majority in their imme-
diate neighbourhood were upon their knees ; the Arch-
bishop laid his hands on the heads of such as he could
reach, exhorting them to continue stedfast in their faith ;
they cried aloud that all should kneel, while tears flowed
from the eyes of many."
In court, the bishops were attended by nine and
twenty peers, who had offered to be their sureties in
case of need. Their counsel consisted of Sir Francis
Pemberton, and Mr. Pollexton, accounted the most
learned among the elder lawyers, Sir Creswell Levins,
who endeavoured subsequently to back out of the duty
of their defence, but was compelled by the attornies to
proceed, Sir Robert Sawyer, Mr. Trely, and Mr. Somers,
a man, as it subsequently proved, of superior intellect
SANCROFT. SOi
and great attainments, who being at that time in his
thirty-eighth year, was yet at one of the consultations
held upon this matter objected to as a person too young
and too obscure to be retained in so important a cause.
They also had the benefit of Sir John Holt's advice,
a distinguished lawyer of Gray's Inn, whose name does
not appear in the list of their counsel ; but who was
recommended to them as a person both able and desirous
to serve them, by Compton, the suspended Bishop of
London. The bench was as unfavourable to their cause
as it was possible for it to be. The Lord Chief Justice,
Sir Robert Wright, and Mr. Justice HoUoway, had been
placed there by the unscrupulous James, to betray rather
than to explain or to administer uprightly the law.
Allibone, who is described in contemporaries as an
angry Papist, was virtually to try his own cause; for
his seat on the bench depended solely upon that dis-
pensing power of the king against which was in effect
directed the petition of the bishops — his spirit too was
subsequently shown by his conduct at the Croydon as-
sizes, where in the teeth of the acquittal pronounced
upon the bishops, he had the audacity to stigmatise
them in his charge as guilty of a seditious libel, the
very accusation which had been pronounced null and
void in the court in which he himself sat upon their
trial. One impartial judge then was all that could be
counted, it was Mr. Justice Powell, whom, for his im-
partiality, James arbitrarily dismissed within a fortnight
of the bishops' acquittal.
The day's proceedings commenced by reading the writ
and return under which the bishops were brought into
court. The attorney-general then moved that the infor-
mation also be read, and the bishops be called upon
to plead. To which their council objected on the
ground of irregularity in the warrant, and also because
the bishops being peers of parliament could not lawfully
be committed for trial — they contended, therefore, that
YOL. VIII, D D
303 SANCKOFT.
their lordships were not legally in court. The bench over-
ruled both objections, and, after three hours debating,
it was determined that the bishops should plead, and
that without delay. They pleaded Not guilty, and upon
their own recognizances (£200 the archbishop, £100
the rest) to appear on the trial, which then was fixed
for the 29th of June, they were enlarged. Even in
this stage of the affair, the joy of the people seems to
have been unbounded ; and yet, relying upon the temper
of the bench, hoping, perhaps, to tamper with the jury,
which the king took measures to effect, in a private
interview with Sir Samuel Astry, clerk of the crown,
whose business it was to form that body — the court
party were confident enough as to the result of the trial,
and the ominous words, fines, imprisonment, suspension,
found their way into the talk of the town.
Again the appointed day came round, and again the
unshaken champions of the nation's and the Church's
right, came into court, surrounded by admiring friends,
and bringing with them the anxious earnest sympathy
of almost all their fellow-subjects. It was a strange
sight for those who could remember the ties which some
forty years before had bound together England's bishops
and her king — who could remember how Laud's blood
shed upon the scaffold had been but precursor of the
blood of Charles : it was strange for them to see the
primate and his brethren stand confronted with the
legal officers of James — to see the prelates of a Church
which counted the father as her martyr arraigned as
seditious libellers by order of his Popish son.
But in truth, had the circumstances of the case been
other than they were, had the question to be tried
involved no such momentous consequences as it did,
had the people, had the Church of England, nay had
the whole of Protestant Europe, possessed no interest so
vital and so deep in the doings of that day, as certainly
was theirs, still the very persons of the calm and dignified
SANCROFT. 303
accused bore with them such character, such dignity, as
to make for ever memorable the day which heard them
tried.
On the day of their final trial the bench was filled by
the men mentioned before, Wright and Powell, Allibone
and Holloway. The king's counsel first found a difii-
culty in proving the hand-writing of the bishops who
had subscribed the petition, and here an important
witness, Blaithwaite, clerk of the privy council, was
forced at last by Pemberton's close questioning to ac-
knowledge the circumstances under which the bishops
had owned it to the king; and though no promise of
his majesty could be adduced directly intimating that
he accepted the condition of impunity attached by them
to their confession — still it was apparent to all men that
the sovereign's honour was tarnished by taking advan-
tage of a confession made as theirs had been. Then the
defendants' counsel insisted much upon the indictment
being laid in a wrong county, in Middlesex, instead of
Surrey, where the alleged libel must needs, as it was
shewn, have been written. After this they objected to
the word publislimg, reminding the court that the petition
was presented in the most private way imaginable to the
king, and to no other person. Hereupon things were
drawing to a close, the Chief Justice was beginning to
sum up, when he was interrupted by Mr. Finch, who,
on behalf of the bishops, asked him, whether what had
been said concerning the writing and publication was
evidence or no. — " For," said he, as it seemed incau-
tiously, "if it be evidence, we have other matter to offer
in answer." The king's solicitor-general took advantage
of the interruption to send for Lord Sunderland, the
president of the council, who upon the 18th of May had
presented the bishops to the king. The bishops' other
counsel were dissatisfied with Mr. Finch, and wished the
chief justice to proceed forthwith ; this he refused to do,
and an hour was spent in waiting for Lord Sunderland,
804 SANCROFT.
When he came, his evidence given upon oath could not
fully prove the delivery of the petition to the king ; after
its giving, the bishops council were asked what else they
had to plead. And now, thanks to Mr. Finch's most
fortunate interruption, as we must call it at this day, the
serious debate began in which, with equal boldness and
skill, the defendants' advocates disproved the charge of
seditious libelling brought against their clients, and,
which to the nation was of weightier import still, estab-
lished beyond doubt the illegality of this famous dis-
pensing power, the engine which had wrought the
greatest mischiefs done by James to the State and the
Church committed to his kingly care. Wright and Alli-
bone charged against the bishops as might have been ex-
pected. Holloway, contrary to expectation, found heart
to speak in favour of them, for which he shared the
disgrace of Powell, who manfully maintained that the
charges of libel or sedition were alike evidently unproved
against the right reverend defendants, and asserted that
the declaration which they had refused to read, sup-
posed in the king a power of dispensation unknown to
the laws of Britain. All night the jury passed in
consultation, and all night long the bishops' friends
watched anxiously the door of the room in which they
were confined. Next morning, between the hours of
niue and ten, the Court of King's Bench shewed such as
you see it in Mr. Herbert's painting of the event. It
was not seven men, nor seven bishops, but England,
that awaited there the saying of the jury's foreman, Sir
Roger Langley; and aa the words Not Guilty dropped
from that foreman's lips, it seemed as if all England
had caught up and was pealing them. You might have
said a crested billow, fierce but impotent, had dashed
itself in glassy fragments against some headland of
proud rock erect, immovable, and that along the shore
from bay to bay the echoing coast was sounding its
discomfiture.
SANCROFT. 305
This important historical event it has been necessary
to give at length, and we have used the words of
Mr. Chermside. It is referred to in several other lives.
The remainder of Archbishop Bancroft's career may be
briefly told. He felt that he ought to be a leader, and
yet must have been conscious that he had no strength of
mind to lead. He was an excellent martyr, but not
fitted for a general. In the subsequent events of the
Revolution, he perceived that a Revolution was neces-
sary, and yet hesitated to transfer his oath of allegiance.
He would have accepted William as a regent, the king
being pronounced to be incompetent to reign, but he
would not concede to him the name of sovereign. For
refusing to take the oaths to William and Mary, he
was suspended, and at last in 1691, deprived of his
archbishopric. He retired to his paternal estate at
Fresingfield, respected by all but the political zealots of
the Revolution, and reverenced in history, if not as a
great, yet certainly as a good man ; who boldly defended
his Church against a tyrant, and yet rendered even to
that tyrant the allegiance he conceived to be due to his
legitimate sovereign.
At Fresingfield, his native place, he lived in peace
and happiness. After he had made the great sacrifice
he had to principle, the natural turn of his mind must
have been to justify to himself the line he had taken,
by confirming and strengthening that view of things on
which the resolution was founded. In addition to this,
his more free and unreserved communications after his
retirement were principally maintained with persons
who had acted on the same views with himself; and, as
many of these carried their feelings and prejudices on
the subject which divided them from the rest of the
nation, much farther than he did, the result seems to
have been that his mind, besides being confirmed in its
approbation of the part which he had taken, gradually
advanced to a strong conviction of the error and even
D D 3
306 SANCROFT.
sinfulness of the part taken by others. Thus, as we
shall find, he was induced to think and speak of those
of the prelates and clergy who refused the new oath, and
were in consequence ejected, as forming the true Church
of England, while he looked upon the rest who remained
in possession of their benefices, or were appointed to
those vacated by the non-jurors, as forming an apostate
and rebellious Church. And, under the influence of the
same feelings, he was also induced to take steps which
no friend to his memory can justify or approve, for lay-
ing the foundation of a permanent schism in the Church
of England.
The first measure which he took for this purpose was
the formal consignment of his archiepiscopal powers, on
his retiring from the see, to Dr. Lloyd, the deprived
Bishop of Norwich.
The instrument, by which he appointed Bishop Lloyd
his vicar in all ecclesiastical matters, is dated from hig
"hired house," at Fresingfield, February 9th, 1691,
rather more than half a year after his departure from
Lambeth. He styles himself in it •• a humble minister
of the metropolitan Church of Canterbury." He states
that, having been driven by a lay force from the house of
Lambeth, and not finding in the neighbouring city a
place where he could conveniently abide, he had retired
afar off, seeking where, in his old age, he might rest his
weary head : and, as there remained many affairs of
great moment to be transacted in the Church, which
could be most conveniently attended to by one resident
in London or its vicinity, he therefore appoints him
(Bishop Lloyd) his vicar, and commits to him all the
authority belonging to his place and pontifical or archie-
piscopal office. The instrument proceeds " whomsoever
you, my brother, as occasion may require, shall take and
adjoin to yourself, shall choose and approve, confirm and
appoint, all those, as far as of right I can, I in like
manner take and adjoin, choose and approve, confirm
SANCROFT. mt
and appoint. In a word, whatsoever you in matters of
this kind may do, or think proper to be done, of what-
ever magnitude or description it may be, you are confi-
dently to impute to me."
The instrument is curious, as showing the state of the
archbishop's feeling at the time, and the firmness with
which he maintained the principles he had imbibed.
Bishop Lloyd continued to act under this commission
till the day of his death, but with so much caution and
prudence, as to give as little umbrage as possible to the
bishops who were in possession of the sees.
A second measure, which he took, or at least in which
he concurred, still less justifiable, was the providing for
a regular succession of nonjuring prelates and ministers.
We derive our principal information on this subject
from the author of the Life of Mr. Kettle well, one of
the most eminent nonjurors. It is stated that at some
period within the two or three first years after the
Revolution, probably in the year 1691 or 1692, the
exiled king ordered a list of nonjuring clergy to be
sent over to him ; a list was accordingly made out, as
perfect as could be procured in the existing state of
things, considering the unwillingness which, for obvious
reasons, many must have felt to have their names to
a pear in such a list. Out of the number whose
names were thus sent over, it is related that, at the
request of the nonjuring bishops. King James nominated
two for the continuance of the episcopal succession, the
one to derive his spiritual functions and authority from
Archbishop Sancroft, the other from Bishop Lloyd, of
Norwich, the eldest suffragan bishop. The two ap-
pointed were Dr. George Hickes and Mr. Thomas
Wagstaffe: the former was consecrated by the title of
Suffragan of Thetford, the latter by that of Sufiragan of
Ipswich. The archbishop died before their consecration,
and his archiepiscopal functions were performed on the
308 SANCROFT.
occasion by the Bishop of Norwich, assisted by the other
nonjuring bishops.
His death occurred on the 24th November, 1693.
The piety of his last moments was in keeping with his
whole life. Mr. Needham one of his chaplains men-
tions a few particulars relating to his habits, which are
given as illustrative of the manners of that age. " He
was," he states, " the most pious humble good Christian
I ever knew in all my life. His hours for chapel were
at six in the morning, twelve before dinner, three in the
afternoon, and nine at night, at which times he was con-
stantly present, and always dressed. His usual diet,
when it was not fast day, was two small dishes of
coffee, and a pipe of tobacco, for breakfast; at noon,
chicken, or mutton; at night, a glass of mum, and a
bit of bread, if anything."
• Bancroft, though a learned and laborious scholar, pub-
lished but little. His writings are : — Three Sermons,
published at different times, and reprinted together in
1694, 8vo. His few other publications consist of the
Latin Dialogue already mentioned, entitled Fur Prsedes-
tinatus, sive, Dialogismus inter quendum Ordinis Prae-
dicantium Calvinistam et Furem ad Laqueum damnatum
Habitus, &c., 1651, 12mo, containing an attack upon
Calvinism ; Modern Politics, taken from Machiavel, Borgia,
and other modern Authors, by an Eye-witness, 1653,
12mo ; A Preface to Bishop Andrewes' Defence of the
Vulgar Translation of the Bible, of which Sancroft was
the editor. In 1757, Nineteen Familiar Letters of his
to Mr., afterwards Sir Henry North, of Milden-hall,
Bart., and which were found among the papers of that
gentleman, were published in 8vo. His numerous col-
lections in MSS. were purchased some years after his
death by Bishop Tanner, and presented to the Bodleian
Library. — D'oyley. Chetmside.
SANDERS. 309
SANDERS, NICHOLAS.
Nicholas Sanders, (see Life of Jewell.) Of this person
the following account is given by Jeremy Collier. He
was born in Surrey, and educated in New College, Oxford,
where he was king's professor of canon-law. When
the times turned against his persuasion, he retired to
Rome, where he was ordained priest, and commenced
doctor of divinity. He attended Cardinal Hosius to
the Council of Trent. And here by disputing and
making speeches, he raised himself a considerable cha-
racter. At last he was sent Nuncio into Ireland, which
was looked on as a hazardous undertaking. And so it
proved ; for upon the miscarrying of his treasonable
practices, he was forced to abscond in the woods and
bogs, where he perished with hunger. This Sanders
was a desperate rebel ; his business in Ireland, as Rish-
ton, who published his history, confesses, was to raise
the natives upon the government ; or to speak in Rish-
ton's words, to comfort the afflicted Catholics who had
taken the field in defence of their religion. Cambden
reports, that his pormanteau, found about him when
dead, was stuffed with letters and harangues to animate
the Irish in their revolt. And here, amongst other
things, he gave them great expectations of succours from
the pope and the King of Spain.
His death occurred in 1583. He was the author of:
" De Origine ac Progressu Schismatis Anglicani, Lib.
III.," 8vo, which was published from his manuscript,
in 1585, at Cologne, and was frequently reprinted in
Catholic countries. The manner in which it is written,
however, justifies the severe remark of Bayle, that it
discovers " a great deal of passion and very little accuracy,
two qualities which generally attend each other." Bishop
Burnet has noticed a vast number of his errors and
misstatements towards the close of the first and second
310 SANDERSON.
parts of his "History of the Reformation." Sanders
also wrote a treatise, entitled " Be Clave David, seu
Regno Christi," published in 1588, &c.," " De Martyrio
Quorundam Tempore Henrici VIII. et Elizahethse, 4to,
published at Cologne, in 1610 ; an abusive account of
" The Life and Manners of the heretic, Thomas Cran-
mer ;" and various controversial treatises which are enu-
merated in Moreri. Bayle.
SANDEBSON, ROBERT.
Robert Sanderson was born at Rotherham in York-
shire, on the 19th of September, 1587, and having re-
ceived his primary education at the Grammar School
of Rotherham, he proceeded to Lincoln College, Oxford.
Here he w^as distinguished for his industry as well as
for his genius, and as regards religion he tells us in
the preface to his Sermons, 1657, "I had a desire I
may truly say, almost from my very childhood, to under-
stand as much as it was possible for me, the bottom of
our religion ; and particularly as it stood in relation both
to the Papists, and (as they were then styled) Puritans ;
to inform myself rightly, wherein consisted the true
differences between them and the Church of England,
together with the grounds of those differences : for I
could even then observe (which was no hard matter to
do), that the most of mankind took up their religion
upon trust, as custom or education framed them rather
than choice."
At the university he generally devoted eleven hours a
day to study ; by which industry he was enabled at an
early period of life to go through the whole course of
philosophy, and to obtain an intimate acquaintance with
all the classical authors. From most of these he made
large extracts ; and he also drew up indexes to them
for his private use, either in a kind of Journal, or at
SANDERSON. 311
the beginning and end of each book. The same assi-
duity he continued to practise during the whole of his
life, not only avoiding, but perfectly hating idleness, and
earnestly advising others to "be always furnished with
somewhat to do, as the best way to innocence and plea-
sure." In ] G06, he was elected fellow of his college ;
and in the following year he proceeded M.A. In 1608,
he was chosen reader of logic ; and he discharged the
duties of that appointment with such ability, that he
was rechosen to it during the succeeding year. He
also distinguished himself greatly in the capacity of
college-tutor. In 1611, he was admitted to holy orders.
Two years after he was chosen sub-rector of Lincoln
College ; and he filled the same office in 1614 and 1616.
In 1615, he published his lectures on logic, under the
title of Logicse Artis Compendium, 8vo. In 1617, he
took the degree of B.D. ; and in 1618, he was presented
to the Rectory of Wibberton, in Lincolnshire : this
living however, he resigned in the following year, on
account of the unhealthiness of the situation ; and about
the same time he was collated to the Rectory of Boothby
Pannell, in the same county.
Here, observes Isaac Walton, in his quaint and plea-
sant style, he was so happy as to obtain Anne, the
daughter of Henry Nelson, bachelor in divinity, then
Rector of Haugham, in the county of Lincoln (a man of
noted worth and learning.) And the giver of all good
things was so good to him, as to give him such a wife as
was suitable to his own desires ; a wife, that made his
life happy by being always content when he was cheer-
ful ; that was always cheerful when he was content ; that
divided her joys with him, and abated of his sorrow, by
bearing a part of that burden ; a wife, that demonstrated
her affection by a cheerful obedience to all his desires,
during the whole course of his life, and at his death
too ; for she outlived him.
And in this- Boothby Pannel he either found or made
312 SANDERSON.
his parishioners peaceable, and complying with him in
the constant, decent, and regular service of God. And
thus his parish, his patron and he, lived together in a
religious love, and a contented quietness : he not troub-
ling their thoughts by preaching high and useless no-
tions, but such, and only such plain truths as were
necessary to be known, believed, and practised in order
to the honour of God and their own salvation. And
their assent to what he taught was testified by such a
conformity to his doctrine, as declared they believed and
loved him. For it may be noted he would often say,
" That without the last, the most evident truths (heard
as from an enemy, or an evil liver) either are not, (or are
at least the less) effectual ; and usually rather harden,
than convince the hearer."
And this excellent man, did not think his duty dis-
charged by only reading the Church-prayers, catechizing,
preaching, and administering the sacraments seasonably ;
but thought (if the law, or the canons may seem to
enjoin no more, yet) that God would require more than
the defective law of man's making, can or does enjoin ;
even the performance of that inward law, which Al-
mighty God hath imprinted in the conscience of all
-■ good Christians, and inclines those whom he loves to
perform. He considering this, did therefore become a
law to himself, practising not only what the law enjoins,
but what his conscience told him was his duty, in
reconciling differences, and preventing law-suits, both
in his parish and in the neighbourhood. To which may
be added his often visiting sick and disconsolate families,
persuading them to patience, and raising them from
dejection by his advice and cheerful discourse, and by
adding his own alms, if there were any so poor as to
need it; considering how acceptable it is to Almighty
God, when we do as we are advised by St. Paul, (Gal. vi.
2) lieljp to hear one another's burthen, either of sorrow or
want : and what a comfort it will be, when the searcher
SANDEESON. 313
of all hearts shall call us to a strict account as well for
that evil we have done, as the good we have omitted;
to remember we have comforted and been helpful to a
dejected or distressed family.
Soon after he was made a prebendary of the Collegiate
Church of Southwell. In 16Q5, he was chosen one of
the clerks in Convocation for the Diocese of Lincoln ;
as he was also in all the subsequent Convocations
during the reign of Charles I. In 1629, he was in-
stalled into a prebend in the Cathedral of Lincoln. In
1631, at the recommendation of Laud, then Bishop of
London, the king appointed him one of his chaplains
in ordinary. In 1633, he was presented to the Eectory
of Muston, in Leicestershire, which he held for eight
years.
At the time of his being first appointed a proctor to
Convocation, the vehemence with which Calvinistic pecu-
liarities were forced upon the public induced Sanderson
as well as others to examine the subject ; and it was
about the year 1625, that he drew up for his own satis-
faction, such a scheme (he called it Pax EcclesicB) as
then gave himself, and has since given others such
satisfaction, that it still remains to be of great esti-
mation.
" When I began,"says he, " to set myself to the study of
divinity as my proper business, which was after I had the
degree of Master of Arts, being then nearly twenty-one
years of age, the first thing I thought fit for me do, was
to consider well of the articles of the Church of England,
which I had formerly read over, twice, or thrice, and
whereunto I had subscribed. And because I had then
met with some Puritanical pamphlets written against
the liturgy and ceremonies, although most of the argu-
ments therein are such as needed no great skill to give
satisfactory answers unto, yet for my fuller satisfaction
(the questions being de rebus agendis, and so the more
suitable to my proper inclination) I read over, with great
VOL. VIII. B E
314 SANDERSON.
diligence and no less delight, that excellent piece of
learned Hooker's Ecclesiastical PoHty. And I have
great cause to bless God for it, that so I did, not only for
that it much both cleared and settled my judgment for
ever after in many very weighty points (as of scandal,
Christian liberty, obligation of laws, obedience, &c.)
but that it also proved (by His good providence) a good
preparative to me (that I say not antidote) for the reading
of Calvin's Institutions with more caution than perhaps
otherwise I should have done. For that book was com-
mended to me, as it was generally to all young scholars,
in those times, as the best and perfectest system of
divinity, and fittest to be laid as a groundwork in the
study of that profession. And indeed, being so prepared
as he said, my expectation was not at all deceived in the
reading of those Institutions. I found, so far as I was then
able to judge, the method exact, the expressions clear,
the style grave and unaffected : his doctrine for the most
part conform to St. Augustine's ; in a word, the whole
work, very elaborate, and useful to the Churches of God
in a good measure ; and might have been, I verily believe,
much more useful, if the honour of his name had not
given so much reputation to his very errors. I must
acknowledge myself to have reaped great benefit by the.
reading thereof. But as for the questions of Election,
Eeprobation, Effectual Grace, Perseverance, &c., I took
as little notice of the two first, as of any other thing
contained in the book ; both because I was always afraid
to pry much into those secrets, and because I could not
certainly inform myself from his own writings, whether
he were a Supralapsarian, as most speak him, and he
seemeth often to incline much that way, or a Sublapsa-
rian, as sundry passages in the book seem to import.
But giving myself mostly still to the study of moral
divinity, and taking most other things upon trust, as
they were in a manner generally taught, both in the
schools and pulpits in both universities, I did for many
SANDERSON. 315
years together acquiesce, without troubling myself any
further about them, in the more commonly received
opinions concerning both these two, and the other points
depending thereuj)on : yet in the Sublapsarian way ever,
(which seemed to me of the two the more moderate,)
rational and agreeable to the goodness and justice of
God ; for the rigid Supralapsarian doctrine could never
find any entertainment in my thoughts, from first to
last.
" But in 1625, a parliament being called, wherein I
was chosen one of the clerks o-f the Convocation for the
Diocese of Lincoln, during the continnance of that par-
liament, which was about four months, as I remember,
there was some expectation that those Arminian points,
the only questions almost in agitation at that time,
should have been debated by the clergy in the Convo-
cation. Which occasioned me, as it did sundry others,
being then at some leisure, to endeavour by study and
conference to inform myself, as thoroughly and exactly
in the state of those controversies, as I could have oppor-
tunity, and my wit could serve me for it. In order
whereunto, I made it my first business to take a survey
of the several different opinions concerning the ordering
of God's decrees, as to the salvation or damnation of
men : not as they are supposed to be really in mente
divind, (for all His decrees are eternal, and therefore
co-eternal, and therefore no priority or posteriority among
them) but quoad nostrum intelligendi modum, because we
cannot conceive or speak of the things of God, but in
a way suitable to our own finite condition and under-
standing; even as God Himself hath been pleased to
reveal Himself to us in the Holy Scriptures by the
like suitable condescensions and accommodations. Which
opinions, the better to represent their differences to the
eye uno quasi intuitu, for their more easy conveying to
the understanding by that means, and the avoiding of
confusion and tedious discoursings, I reduced into five
316 SANDERSON.
schemes or tables, much after the manner as I had
used to draw pedigrees, (a thing which I think you
know I have very much fancied, as to me of all others
the most delightful recreation); of which scheme, some
special friends to whom I shewed them, desired copies ;
who, as it seemeth, valuing them more than I did, (for
divers men have copies of them, as I hear, but I do not
know that I have any such myself) communicated them
farther, and so they are come into many hands. These
are they which Dr. Reynolds, in his Epistle prefixed to
Master Barlee's Correptory Correction, had taken notice
of. Having all these schemes before my eyes at once,
so as I might with ease compare them one with another,
and having considered of the conveniences and incon-
veniences of each, as well as I could, I soon discerned
a necessity of quitting the Sublapsarian way, of which
I had a better liking before, as well as the Supralap-
sarian, which I could never fancy." Dr. Hammond's
Pacific Discourse of God's Grace and Decrees, a. d.
1660. Hammond's Works, vol. i. p. 669. It may be
worth observing that this collection of schemes or tables
must not be confounded with the tract published by
Isaac Walton under the title Pax Ecclesice, which Wal-
ton attributes to the year 1625. In that tract it is
plain, that he still retains the Sublapsarian opinion :
and there are other reasons to prove that the tracts
are not the same.
In 1636, when the court was entertained at Oxford,
Sanderson was created D.D. In 1642, the king ap-
pointed him regius professor of divinity at Oxford, and
canon of Christ Church ; but he was prevented by the
civil wars from entering on his professorship till four
years afterwards, and even then he held it undisturbed
only little more than twelve months. When, in 1643,
the parliament summoned the famous Assembly of
Divines to meet at Westminster, for the purpose of
deliberating on ecclesiastical affairs, Dr. Sanderson was
SANDERSON. 317
nominated one of that body. However, he dedined
taking his seat amongst them ; and afterwards he re-
fused to take, at first the Covenant, and then the
Engagement. The consequence of his refusal to take
the Covenant, was the sequestration of his Rectory of
Boothby Pannel, in 1644; but, so great was his repu-
tation for piety and learning, that he was not deprived
of it. He had the principal share in drawing up " The
Reasons of the University of Oxford against the solemn
League and Covenant, the negative Oath, and the Ordi-
nances concerning Discipline and Worship;" and when
the parliament had sent proposals to the king for a peace
in Church and state, his majesty desired that Dr.
Sanderson, with the Doctors Hammond, Sheldon, and
Morley, should attend him, and give him their advice how
far he might with a good conscience comply with them.
This request was at that time rejected; but in 1647,
and 1648, when his majesty w^as at Hampton Court, and
the Isle of Wight, it was complied with, and Dr. San-
derson both preached before the king, and had many
public and private conferences with him, from which his
majesty declared that he received the greatest satisfac-
tion. While he was at Hampton Court, by the king's
desire he drew up a treatise, containing his sentiments
on the proposal which parliament had made for the
abolition of episcopal government as inconsistent with
monarchy. What he wrote upon this subject was
published in 1661, under the title of Episcopacy, as
established by Law in England, not prejudicial to regal
Power, 8vo. In 1648, Dr. Sanderson, on account of his
adherence to the royal cause, was ejected from his pro-
fessorship and canonry at Oxford by the parliamentary
visitors, and withdrew to his living of Boothby Pannell ;
whence he was soon after carried prisoner by the parha-
mentary party to Lincoln, for the purpose of being
exchanged for Mr. Clarke, a Puritan divine and minister
of Allington, who had been made prisoner by the king's
E E 3
318 SANDERSON.
party. This exchange having been agreed upon, Dr.
Sanderson was released upon articles, by which it was
engaged that he should be restored to his living, and
that he should remain there undisturbed.
Here, observes Walton, he hoped to have enjoyed him-
self in a poor, yet in a quiet and desired ^J^ivacy ; but
it proved otherwise. For all corners of the nation were
filled with Covenanters, confusion, committee-men, and
soldiers, defacing monuments, breaking painted glass
windows, and serving each other to their several ends,
of revenge, or power, or profit; and these committee-
men and soldiers were most of them so possessed with
this covenant that they became like those that were
infected with that dreadful plague of Athens ; the plague
of which plague was, that they by it became maliciously
restless to get into company, and to joy (so the historian
saith) when they had infected others, even those of their
most beloved or nearest friends or relations ; and so
though there might be some of these covenanters that
were beguiled, and meant well ; yet such were the
generality of them, and temper of the times, that you
may be sure Dr. Sanderson, who though quiet and
harmless, yet was an eminent dissenter from them,
could therefore not live peaceably ; not did he. For the
soldiers would appear, and visibly oppose and disturb
him in the church when he read prayers, some of them
pretending to advise him how God was to be served more
acceptably ; which he not approving, but continuing
to observe order and decent behaviour in reading the
Church service, they forced his book from him, and tore
it, expecting extemporary prayers.
At this time he was advised by a parliament man of
power and note, that loved and valued him much, not
to be strict in reading all the Common Prayer, but to
make some little variation, especially if the soldiers came
to watch him ; for if he did, it might not be in the
power of him and his other friends to secure him from
SANDERSON. 319
taking the covenant, or sequestration : for which reasons
he did vary somewhat from the strict rules of the rubric.
Of the Prayer Book he told his friend Isaac Walton,
" That the Holy Ghost seemed to assist the composers ;
and, that the effect of a constant use of it would be,
to melt and form the soul into holy thoughts and
desires : and beget habits of devotions." This he said :
and " that the Collects were the most passionate, proper,
and most elegant comprehensive expressions that any
language ever afforded; and that there was in them
such piety, and that, so interwoven with instructions,
that they taught us to know the power, the wisdom, the
majesty, and mercy of God, and much of our duty both
to Him and our neighbour; and that a congregation
behaving themselves reverently, and putting up to God
these joint and known desires for pardon of sins, and
their praises for mercies received, could not but be more
pleasing to God, than those raw unpremeditated expres-
sions which many understood not, and so to which many
of the hearers could not say Amen."
For some years before the Restoration the hand of
poverty pressed heavily upon Dr. Sanderson, but he
bo»e all his afflictions with unrepining resignation, and
continued to maintain the cause of the suffering Church
with vigour and courage. He hazarded his safety, says
Walton, by writing the large and bold preface, now ex-
tant, before his Sermons, first printed in the dangerous
year, 1655. With respect to this admirable treatise, it
is to be wished that it were printed as a tract and cir-
culated, as being adapted to the present age as much as
to that for the benefit of which it was especially written.
One or two extracts we shall make. Having declared
that he preached as much against Popery as against
Protestantism, he remarks of the Puritans, " that they
preach against Popery, I not at all mishke ; only I could
wish that these two cautions were better observed, than
(as far as I can make conjecture of the rest, by the pro-
320 SANDERSON.
portion of what hath come to my knowledge), I fear they
usually are, by the more zealous of that party, viz. 1.
That they do not through ignorance, prejudice, or pre-
cipitancy, call that Popery, which is not; and then,
under that name and notion, preach against it. 2. That
they would do it with the less noise, and more weight.
It is not a business merely of the lungs, but requireth
sinews too ; or, to use their own metaphor, let them not
think that casting of squibs will do the deed, or charging
with powder alone : that will give a crack indeed, and
raise a smoke ; but unless they have bullet as well as
powder it will do little execution. "
In another place, alluding to the charge brought
against the Liturgy that the ceremonies are Popish, he
says of the Puritans : " their opinion is, that the things
enjoined are popish and superstitious, and consequently
unlawful to be used, and this they render as the reason
of their nonconformity. And the reason were certainly
good, if the opinion were true. For the popishness first,
unless we should sue out a writ de finihus regendis, it
will be hard to find out a way how to bring this contro-
versy to an issue, much less to an end, the term hath
been so strangely extended, and the limits thereof (if yet
it have any) so uncertain. If they would be entreated to
set bounds to what they mean by Popish and Popery, by
giving us a certain definition of it, we should the sooner
either come to some agreement, or at least understand
ourselves and one another the better, wherein and how
far we disagreed. In the meantime it is to me a won-
der, that if reason would not heretofore, yet the sad
experience of the ill consequents so visible of late time,
should not have taught them all this while to consider
what infinite advantage they give to the Eomish party to
work upon weak and wavering souls, by damning so
many things under the name of Popery, which may to
their understandings be sufficiently evidenced, some to
have been used by the ancient Christians long before
SANDERSON. 321
popery was hatched, or but in the egg, and all to have
nothing of superstition or Popery in them, unless every
thing that is used in the Church of Rome become
thereby popish and superstitious. Nor V7hat great ad-
vantage they give to our newer sectaries to extend the
name yet farther : who, by the help of their new lights,
can discern Popery, not only in the ceremonies formerly
under debate, but even in the churches and pulpits
wherein they used to call the people together to hear
them. These are by some of them cried down as popish,
with other things very many which their Presbyterian
brethren do yet both allow and practise ; though how
long they will so do is uncertain, if they go on with the
work of reformation they have begun, with as quick
dispatch and at the rate they have done these last two
seven years. The having of godfathers at baptism,
churching of women, prayers at the burial of the dead,
children asking their parent's blessing, &c., which for-
merly were held innocent, are now by very many thrown
aside as rags of Popery. Nay, are not some gone so far
already as to cast into the same heap, not only the
ancient hymn Gloria Patri (for the repeating whereof
alone some have been deprived of all their livelihoods)
and the Apostles' Creed ; but even the use of the Lord's
Prayer itself? — And what will ye do in the end thereof?
And what would ye have us to do in the meantime,
when you call hard upon us to leave our Popery, and yet
would never do us the favour to let us know what it is ?
It were good therefore, both for your own sakes that you
may not rove in infinitum, and in compassion to us, that
you would give us a perfect boundary of what is Popery
now, with some prognostication or ephemerides annexed,
(if you please,) whereby to calculate what will be Popery
seven years hence.
" But to be serious, and not to indulge myself too much
merriment in so sad a business, I believe all those men
will be found much mistaken, who either measure the
322 SANDERSON.
Protestant religion by an opposition to Popery, or account
all Popery that is taught or practised in the Church of
Eome. Our godly forefathers to whom (under God) we
owe the purity of our religion, and some of which laid
down their lives for the defence of the same, were sure of
another mind, if we may from what they did, judge what
they thought. They had no purpose (nor had they any
warrant) to set up a new religion, but to reform the old
by purging it from those innovations which in tract of
time (some sooner, some later,) had mingled with it, and
corrupted it both in the doctrine and worship. Accord-
ing to this purpose they produced, without constraint
or precipitancy, freely and advisedly as in peaceable
times, and brought their intentions to a happy end ; as
by the result thereof contained in the Articles and
Liturgy of our Church, and the prefaces thereunto, doth
fully appear. From hence chiefly, as I conceive, we are
to take our best scantling whereby to judge what is, and
what is not, to be esteemed Popery. All these doctrines
then, held by the modern Church of Rome, which are
either contrary to the written word of God, or but super-
added thereunto as necessary points of faith, to be of all
Christians believed under pain of damnation; and all
those superstitions used in the worship of God, which
either are unlawful as being contrary to the word, or
being not contrary, and therefore arbitrary and indif-
ferent, are made essentials, and imposed as necessary
parts of worship : these are, as I take it, the things
whereunto the name of Popery doth properly and pecu-
liarly belong. But as for the ceremonies used in the
Church of Rome, which the Church of England at the
Reformation thought fit to retain, not as essential or
necessary parts of God's service, but only as accidental
and mutable circumstances attending the same for order,
comeliness, and edification's sake ; how these should
deserve the name of popish, I so little understand, that
I profess I do not yet see any reason why, if the Church
SANDERSON. 323
had then thought fit to have retained some other of those
which were then laid aside, she might not have lawfully
so done, or why the things so retained should have been
accounted popish. The plain truth is this : The Church
of England meant to make use of her liberty, and the
lawful power she had (as all the Churches of Christ have,
or ought to have) of ordering ecclesiastical affairs here,
yet to do it with so much prudence and moderation, that
the world might see by what was laid aside, that she
acknowledged no subjection to the see of Rome ; and by
what was retained, that she did not recede from the
Church of Rome out of any spirit of contradiction, but
as necessitated thereunto for the maintenance of her
just liberty. The number of ceremonies was also then
very great, and they thereby burdensome, and so the
number thought fit to be lessened. But for the choice
which should be kept, and which not, that was wholly in
her power, and at her discretion. Whereof, though she
were not bound so to do, yet hath she given a clear and
satisfactory account in one of the prefaces usually pre-
fixed before the Book of Common Prayer."
It is curious to observe that a fact continues to exist
just as Sanderson found it in the 17th century. He
says, " that in those counties, Lancashire for one, where
there are the most and most rigid Presbyterians, (mean-
ing Puritans) there are also the most and most zealous
Roman Catholics."
The Restoration found Dr. Sanderson an old man.
He was reinstated in his professorship and canonry, in
August, 1560 ; and, to the great satisfaction of the true
friends of the Church, was included with Sheldon, Mor-
ley, and others, in the list of bishops consecrated in
October following.
The see chosen for him was that of Lincoln. He
possessed it about two years and a half; a short time,
yet long enough to enable the Church to appreciate his
public labours, and the diocese to taste his munificence.
324 SANDERSON.
A principal share was taken by him in the additions
and alterations made in the Liturgy by the Convocation
of 1661 : in particular, the general Preface to the Com-
mon Prayer Book is of his composition. He augmented,
at his own cost, several poor livings in his diocese;
repaired the palace at Buckden, on which Bishop Wil-
liams had, in the last reign, bestowed a princely ex-
pense, but which had been ruined in the civil war ; and,
after distinguishing his brief tenure of the episcopal
office by some farther proofs of his liberality, he expired,
in January, 1663, without having made any provision
for his family. His preparations for his departure out
of the world were made with the pious serenity to be
expected from the previous tenor of his life. The day
before his death he received the Church's absolution ;
pulling off his cap at the performance of that solemn
service in order that the hand of the chaplain employed
in it might rest on his bare head.
Bishop Sanderson was unquestionably one of the
ablest of our English divines. " That staid and well
weighed man," it was said by his contemporary Ham-
mond, " conceives all things deliberately, dwells upon,
them discreetly, discerns things that differ exactly, pass-
eth his judgment rationally, and expresses it aptly,
clearly, and honestly." A profound scholar, a judicious
divine, a great preacher, a matchless casuist; — in poverty
and oppression, patient and courageous — in prosperity
and high station, simple and self-denying — distinguished,
in every variety of circumstances, by the same Christian
bearing and unaffected piety, — Sanderson holds an emi-
nent place among those true sons of the Church of Eng-
land, whose memory she cherishes with joy and thank-
ness ; and he probably realized the hope, often expressed
by him, that " he should die without an enemy."
The principal works of Bishop Sanderson are: — 1.
" Logicse Artis Compendium," 8vo, ]615. 2. " De Jura-
menti Promissorii Obligatione, Prselectiones VII.," 8vo,
SANDYS. 325
1647. The translation of this work, made by King
Charles I., was printed in 8vo, in the year 1655. 3.
" Censure of Mr. Anthony Ascham's Book of the Confu-
sions and Revolutions of Government," 8vo, 1649. As-
cham was English resident at Madrid, in the time of the
Rump Parliament. 4. " Thirty-six Sermons : ad aulam,
clerum, magistratum, populum," foL, 1658. Of the
discourses contained in this invaluable collection of
divinity, several had before appeared separately, and
twelve as collected into a 4to volume, in 1632. To the
eighth edition, printed in 1689, is prefixed the interest-
ing Life, by Walton. 5. " De Obhgatione Conscientiae
Praelectiones," 4to, 1661. 6. "Episcopacy, as estab-
lished by law in England, not prejudicial to the Regal
Power," 8vo, 1661. 7. " Preface to Ussher's work on
The Power communicated by God to the Prince, and the
Obedience required of the Subject," 4to, 1661. 8. "Ar-
ticles of Visitation and Enquiry concerning Matters
Ecclesiastical," 4to, 1662. 9. "Nine Cases of Con-
science Resolved." Several of these had been already
published at different times. 8vo. 1678. 10. " Bishop
Sanderson's Judgment concerning Submission to Usur-
pers." Annexed, with other tracts, to Walton's Life of San-
derson, 1678. 11. "Discourse of the Church, &c., first,
concerning the Visibility of the True Church ; secondly,
concerning the Church of Rome," 1688. This tract was
published by Dr. Ashton, of Brasenose College, Oxford,
from a MS. communicated to him by the domestic chap-
lain who attended Bishop Sanderson on his death-bed.
Dr. Sanderson is mentioned by Brian Walton among
those learned friends who assisted him in his Polygot
Bible. — Works. Isaac Walton. Cattermole.
SANDYS, OR SANDES, EDWIN.
Edwin Sandys, or Sandes, descended from the ancient
yOl. yiii. f f
326 SANDYS.
barons of Kendal, was born near Hawkshead, in Fur-
ness Fells, in 1519. He received his primary educa-
tion most probably at the School of Furness Abbey, and
in 1532 or 1533, went to St. John's College, Cambridge,
where he graduated in 1539. In 1547, he became
Master of Catherine Hall; about which time he was
also Vicar of Haversham, in Buckinghamshire, and a
Prebendary of Peterborough. He embraced the doc-
trines of the Reformation and married. At the death
of Edward VI., he was also a Prebendary of Carlisle
and Vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
When Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, after the death
of Edward VI., was in arms for the cause of Lady Jane
Grey, he marched through Cambridge on his way to
attack the Princess Mary. He persuaded Dr. Sandys
to maintain Lady Jane's title in a Sermon before the
university. Dr. Sandys did not hesitate to undertake an
office which would have laid the new queen, had Lady
Jane succeeded, under obligations to him. The spe-
culation, however, failed by the success of Mary, and
Dr. Sandys found himself in prison instead of being
in a palace. He contrived to escape and arrived at
Antwerp, in 1554. Finding that he was not in safety
at Antwerp, he proceeded to Strasburg. Here he
took up his abode for the present, and here unques-
tionably spent the most gloomy portion of his life.
His own health was at this time deeply injured ; he
fell sick of a flux (the usual concomitant of hardships
and afflictions,) which continued without abatement for
nine months ; his only child died of the plague ; and
his beloved wife, who had found means to follow him
about a year after his flight from England, expired of
consumption in his arms. In addition to his sor-
rows, the disputes concerning Church discipline broke
out among the English exiles, on which several of his
friends left the place. After his wife's death, he went
to Zurich, where he was entertained by Peter Martyr,
but, his biograplier thinks, the time did not permit him
to receive any deep tincture either as to doctrine or dis-
cipHne from Geneva or its neighbours. Within five
weeks the news of Queen Mary's death arrived ; and
after being joyfully feasted by Bullinger, and the other
ministers of the Swiss Churches, he returned to Stras-
burg, where he preached ; after which Grindal and he
set out for their native country together, and arrived in
London on the day of Queen Elizabeth's coronation.
In the month of March following, the queen and her
council appointed him one of the nine Protestant divines
who were to hold a disputation against an equal number
of the Popish clergy, before both houses of parliament
at Westminster. He was also one of the commissioners
who were selected to prepare a new liturgy, and to de-
liberate on other matters for the reformation of the
Church. On the 21st December, 1559, he was conse-
crated Bishop of Worcester. When, about the year
1565, it was determined that a new translation of the
Bible (called afterwards Parker's, or the Bishops' Bible)
should be made. Dr. Sandys, on account of his great
skill in the original languages, was one of the bishops
who were appointed to undertake that work, and he
had allotted to him as his portion the first and second
books of Kings, and the first and second books of
Chronicles.
At his first visitation in 1560, five or six priests were
presented to him for living in a state of concubinage,
and he took occasion, on that account to deliver in his
cathedral a sermon shewing the necessity of permitting
priests to marry. In 1570, on the translation of his
friend Grindal to York, he succeeded him in the see
of London, from which, in 1576, he was translated to
York, on the removal of Grindal to Canterbury. In
1577, Archbishop Sandys resolved to visit the whole of
his province. Such a general visitation he was induced
to make, it is said, in consequence of the complaints of
328 SANDYS.
Dr. Barnes, Bishop of Carlisle, that he had in vain
attempted to bring the clergy of his diocese to an abso-
lute conformity, owing to the lax government, which had
been exercised over them by his predecessor ; and that
his province abounded in Non-conformists, whom he
could not reduce to the established orders of the Church.
He had much trouble with Whittingham, Dean of
Durham, who had, in the unsettled state of affairs,,
obtained the preferment without having been ordained.
The archbishop was determined to enforce the discipline
of the Church, although perhaps he had as little regard
to the necessity of episcopal ordination as Whittingham.
The Archbishop of York was indeed more of a practical
partizan than a divine, and seems chiefly to have studied
theology as necessary to his worldly advancement. He
was in his heart opposed to the doctrine and discipline
of that Church, to enforce which, in order that he might
find favour with the government, he was harsh and
severe. When first he came from abroad, being a liberal,
he was strongly opposed to the use of clerical habits,
but when he was a bishop he was a strict enforcer oi
conformity upon the Puritans. His real sentiments
came out in his last will: — " I am persuaded," says he,
" that the rites and ceremonies by political institution
appointed in the Church, are not ungodly nor unlawful,
but may for order and obedience sake be used by a good
Christian — but I am now, and ever have been persuaded,
that some of these rites and ceremonies are not expedient
for this Church now ; but, that in the Church reformed,
and in all this time of the gospel, they may better be
disused by little and little, than more and more urged."
He has the bad preeminence of being the first English
bishop who, by his prudence or parsimony, laid the
foundation of a fortune in his family, which has justified
their subsequent advancement to a peerage. With his
father's savings, the manor of Ombersley, in Worcester-
shire, was purchased by Sir Samuel Sandys, the eldest
SXKAVIA. B$i0
son, whose descendants, since ennobled by the family
name, still remain in possession of that fair and ample
domain.
His life was rendered a scene of perpetual contention
and warfare, in which he had numerous enemies by whom
many attempts were made to ruin his reputation and
interest. One scheme which was planned with this
view was of a most atrocious nature. He quarrelled
alike with Papists and Protestants, with the clergy who
were under him, and with his brethren on the episcopal
bench. He seldom kept house at York or Southwark,
but lived in obscure manor houses on his estates, to
accumulate a fortune for his children. Nevertheless, he
was active in the discharge of his duties and zealous as
a preacher. He died in 1588. Twenty two of his dis-
courses were collected together in 1616, and printed in
■ito. — Life hy Whitaker. Strype.
SABAVIA, ADEIAN.
Of Adrian Saravia, who was honoured by the personal
friendship and professional confidence of the illustrious
Hooker, it is to be regretted that few details can be given.
He was of Spanish extraction, and was a native of Artois,
where he was born in 1531. In 1582, he was professor
of divinity at Leyden. Being well skilled in ecclesi-
astical antiquity, he was a strong assertor of episcopacy,
which, raising against him the hostility of those with
whom he was associated, he threw himself on the pro-
tection of the Church of England in 1587. He had
some time before recommended himself to the episcopal
communion, by his Answer to Beza's book, De triplici
Episcopatu. Not long after his arrival in England,
he published a very learned book, De diversis Gradibus
Ministrorum Evangelii. In this tract, he proves bishops
not only of a superior degree, but of a different order
3 F F
330 SARAVIA.
from priests. This book was dedicated to the ministers
of the Belgic Churches, where, though not very welcome,
it passed without contradiction. But Beza, Danseus, and
the rest of the Genevians gave it a warmer reception.
They looked upon the principles as subversive of their
ecclesiastical government, and therefore resolved to try
their strength upon it. Beza, it seems, had other busi-
ness, and therefore left the undertaking to Danaeus.
This man, whose talent lay more in railing than rea-
soning, made little of it. Beza therefore finding it ne-
cessary to reinforce Danseus, published an answer in the
year 1593, to which Saravia replied the next year. Beza
after this seemed to have had enough of the controversy
and lay by. As for Saravia, his merit was not overlooked
by the English bishops. He was made prebendary of
Westminster, and considered in other respects to his
satisfaction. In the year 1594, be published a vindi-
cation of his former book, of which an account is given
by Strype, who says, " the reason that moved him to write
upon this argument, viz., that the three orders of minis-
ters were anciently and universally used in the Christian
Church, was, as he tells us himself, that he had observed,
how there were certain scandalous libels (which he had
read before he came into England) of evil-tongued men
set forth ; therein impudently and rudely, with reproaches
and railing speeches, set upon, not only the persons of
those who were placed over the Church of England,
but also the episcopal dignity and degree itself. Which
error, he said, was much greater than they could be
persuaded of, who defended it with the very great scan-
dal, not only of the Church of England, but of all the
Christian Churches whatsoever.
"That what he had done therefore, was not only,
(whatsoever some thought) to defend the dignity of the
English bishops; but that his end was, if not to take
away, yet, at least,- to lessen the offences given by some
of their own men, in many places, to the bishops of
SAKAVIA. sm
all the Churches of Christ, as well of France as Ger-
many, and other learned men, and such as were not
ignorant of the ancient government of the Church ; and
to supple the wound which they then had made, and
would never heal, and as much as might be, to remove
the remoras of the propagation of the doctrine of the
Gospel."
" That he had therefore some notes lying by him, con-
cerning the necessity of bishops, and the dignity of
the ministers of the gospel, comprised in a few chap-
ters, which he thought once to have presented to the
States of Holland. Afterwards, coming into England,
he fell into discourse of this subject with some pastors
of this Church, who wondered at his opinion of bishops
and seemed to him to believe, that he rather brought
it to their ears as a matter of discourse, than that he
truly thought so in his own mind ; besides, he saw
their own Churches (i. e. in the Low Countries, where
he lived) look that w^ay, as favouring the seditious and
schismatic party of the Church of England, and might
give this faction in England, some cause to depart
from and contemn this Church. That he therefore on
that account, to free those Churches where he lived,
and whereof he was a member, from such suspicion,
took upon him the pastoral ministry in the Church of
England, and withal set forth his tract of the different
Degrees of Ministers in the Church ; whereby he might
(in the name of the reformed Churches abroad) give a
testimony to the world of a conjunction of their minds
in one and the same faith. And this he was invited
to do by the good example of the bishops of the Church
of England, who, notwithstanding their rites and cere-
monies were different from those of the Churches abroad
among whom he lived, yet did not only bear and suffer
strangers to use their own customs and rites in their
dioceses, but also friendly embraced and cherished them.
( As they did the Dutch and French people in London,
332 SARAVIA.
Canterbury, Norwich, Colchester, Sandwich, Southamp-
ton, &c.) And therefore he added, that they did ill,
whosoever separated and divided one from another,
because of external rites and ceremonies.
"And when he saw, that all the best sort of men did
not abstain from the communion of their Churches
abroad, in like manner he always thought, that he
himself ought to hold communion with the Churches
of England, in all places where he should live. And
that whensoever it happened that he should be present
in their churches when the Lord's Supper was cele-
brated, he partook with them in those sacred symbols
of the peace and unity of Christians. And that it was
a certain sign of a very w^ak judgment, or else of a
Pharisaical pride and conceit, to refuse the communion
of the Church, (in which Christ, and grace obtained
for us by Christ, is purely taught) only for different
external rites.
" The same learned foreigner farther spake his mind
concerning this venerable order of bishops, and declared
how they came to be so much opposed ; which, me-
thinks, deserves to be recorded, being historical. Olivi
Episcopos, &c. ' That heretofore no good man did dis-
allow of bishops and archbishops ; but now it w^as come
to pass, by the hatred of the Bishop of Rome's tyranny
and his party, that these very names were called into
question ; and that by divers, on a different account ;
some, because they believed that such things as were
invented by Anti-christ, or by those who made way for
him, were to be banished forth without of the Church ;
others, more modest, thought for the reverence of an-
tiquity, that they were to be borne withal, (although
they approved them not,) until they might conveniently
with the thing itself, be antiquated. They dared not
openly indeed condemn bishops and archbishops, whom
they knew to have presided over the Church, and that
with great fruit and benefit: but they were willing to
SARAVIA. 883
let them go, because they saw some reformed Churches
of these times, which had received the Gospel, and re-
jected the tyranny of the Romish bishop, and had cast
off all the government of bishops, did not approve these
fathers, and were more pleased with a new form of eccle-
siastical government, as believing it to be instituted by
our Lord and Saviour Himself, and most different from
all ambition and tyranny, &c. But,' added he, 'why
I do not in like manner approve that form, this is my
reason, because it doth not seem to be sufficiently de-
monstrated by the Word of God, nor confirmed by any
example of those that were before us, our ancestors, as
being partly unknown to them, and partly condemned
in such as were heretics.'
•' Therefore, of this new manner of governing the
Church, he was, he said, of the same opinion that others
held of the government of bishops, namely, that it was
human, [as Beza did,] and to be borne with, till another
that was better could be obtained: and, on the other
hand, that which was disallowed of, as human, seemed
to him to be divine ; as being that which, as well in the
Old as New Testament, was instituted by God. But
because it had been defiled by the wicked deeds of men,
that which was to be attributed to man's impiety was
ascribed [amiss] to the function ; as if no like calamity
might happen to this new kind of government, &c. If
any objected, that there were many corruptions in the
government of bishops, of that matter he intended no
disputation ; but that the same complaint might be
made of the government of civil magistrates ; but no
man in his wits ever thought that a fit reason to remove
from the magistracy all those who were over the com-
monwealth, [how well soever they governed.]
" The question then was, whether our Lord forbade a
primacy, with more eminent power, among the pastors
of the Church, and ministers of the Gospel : that a
pastor might not be set over a pastor, and a bishop over
334 SAHPI.
a bishop, to preserve external polity; not how bishops
had used their authority. If any were minded to accuse
bishops and their consistories, either of neglect of their
duties, or for unjust judgments given, there was nobody
hindered but that such things might be brought before
the chief magistrate. That, for his part, he undertook
the defence of no bishop, nor was he so considerable to
do it ; nor had they need of his defence ; they were able
to speak for themselves, and to answer their detractors.
All that he did was to lament, that the ancient order,
necessary for preserving discipline in the kingdom of
Christ, and most diligently observed by the fathers,
should be quite taken away : and that he exceedingly
feared, lest by the calamity of that age, it might be
wholly taken away ; because he saw the men of his
times were so disposed, as to desire that the whole min-
istry of the Church might be reduced to the bare preach-
ing of the Gospel. These were the sentiments of
Saravia, that learned stranger, which was the cause of
his writing his thoughts concerning the ej)is copal order."
He died in 1613, and was interred in Canterbury
Cathedral. All his works were published in 1611, in
folio. He must have acquired a very extensive knowledge
of the English language, as we find his name in the first
class of those whom James I. employed in the new
translation of the Bible. — Collier. Strype. Walton.
SARPI.
Saepi, commonly called Father Paul, or Fra Paolo, was
baptized by the name of Peter, but according to an
iniquitous custom of the Romish Church took the name
of Paul when he entered the order of the Servites.
He was born at Venice, in 1552. He was the son
of a merchant who had come from St. Veit to Venice,
and of a lady of the Venetian family of Morelli,
SARPI. 835
which enjoyed the privileges of cittadinanza. His
father was a little, swarthy, impetuous, quarrelsome
man, who had ruined himself hy erroneous speculations.
His mother was one of those beautiful Venetian blondes
not unfrequently to be seen ; her figure was large, and
her character marked by modesty and good sense. Her
son resembled her in his features.
A brother of hers, Ambrosio Morelli, was then at the
head of a school which enjoyed peculiar reputation, and
was principally devoted to the education of the young
nobility. Of course the master's nephew was admitted
to share the instruction. Nicoli Contarini and Andrea
Morosini were Paolo's school-fellows, and were very inti-
mate wfth him. In the very threshold of his life he
formed the most important connexions.
Nevertheless, he did not suffer himself to be restrained
either by his mother or by his uncle, or by these con-
nexions, from following his inclination for solitude, and
entering a convent of Servites as early as in his four-
teenth or fifteenth year.
Sarpi spoke little, and was always serious. He never
ate meat, and till his thirtieth year drank no wine ; he
abhorred lewd discourse : '• Here comes the maiden,"
his companions used to say when he appeared, "let us
talk of something else." Every wish, inclination, or
desire he was capable of, was fixed on those studies
for which he was endowed with remarkable aptitude.
He possessed the inestimable gift of rapid and just
apprehension ; for instance, he always recognized again
a person whom he had once seen, or when he entered
a garden, he saw and remarked everything in it at a
glance ; his vision, both mental and bodily, was clear
and penetrating. Hence he applied himself with par-
ticular success to natural sciences. His admirers ascribe
to him the discovery of the valves in the blood vessels,
and of the dilatation and contraction of the pupil, the
first observation of the dip of the needle, and of a great
386 SARPI.
many other magnetic phenomena, and it cannot be
denied that he took a Uvely share both in the way of
suggestion and discovery, in the labours of Aquapen-
dente, and still more of Porta. To his physical studies
he added mathematical calculations, and the observation
of intellectual phenomena. In the Servite library in
Venice, was kept a copy of the works of Vieta, in which
many errors of that author were corrected by the hand
of Fra Paola : there was also preserved there, a little
treatise of his on the origin and decline of opinions
among men, which, if we may judge from the extracts
given from it by Foscarini, contained a theory of the
intellectual powers, which regarded sensation and
reflexion as their foundations, and had much analogy
to the theory of Locke, if it did not quite so strictly
coincide with it, as some have asserted. Fra Paolo
wrote only as much as was necessary : he had no
natural promptings to original composition: he read
continually, and appropriated what he read or observed :
his intellect was sober and capacious, methodical and
bold ; he trod the path of free enquiry.
With these powers he now advanced to questions of
theology and of ecclesiastical law.
It has been said he was in secret a Protestant ; biat
his Protestantism could hardly have gone beyond the
first simple propositions of the Augsburg Confession,
even if he subscribed to these : at all events, Fra Paolo
read mass daily all his life. It is impossible to specify
the form of religion to which he inwardly adhered ; it
was a kind often embraced in those days, especially by
men who devoted themselves to natural science, — a
mode of opinion shackled by none of the existing sys-
tems of doctrine, dissentient and speculative, but neither
accurately defined nor fully worked out.
Thus much, however, is certain, that Fra Paolo bore
a decided and implacable hatred to the temporal autho-
rity of the pope. This was perhaps the only passion
SARPI. 337 •
he cherished. Attempts have been made to attribute
it to the refusal of a bishopric for which he had been
proposed ; and who may deny the effect which a morti-
fying rejection, barring the path of natural ambition,
may have even on a manly spirit? Nevertheless, the
true cause lay far deeper. It was a politico-religious
habit of thought, bound up with every other conviction
of Sarpi's mind, corroborated by study and experience,
and shared with his friends, his contemporaries, the
men who once had assembled at Morosini's, and who
now swayed the helm of the state. Before the keenness
of his penetrating observation vanished those chimerical
arguments, with which the Jesuits laboured to prop
up their assertions, and those doctrines, the real foun-
dation of which was, in fact, to be looked for only in
a devotion to the Roman See, created by a by-gone con-
dition of society.
About the year 1602, commenced the great contro-
versy between the Republic of Venice and the Pope of
Rome. It is not necessary here to enter into the details.
The story is the oft-repeated one. On the one hand the
most unjustifiable pretensions were advanced by the
Pope, which, under the direction of father Paul, were
reasonably and manfully resisted by the Rulers of the
Republic, who, nevertheless, in the end submitted to an
unworthy compromise. The conduct of Paul Sarpi
throughout the affair was such as to raise him to the
highest consideration in Europe. Pending these dis-
putes, being appointed theologian and one of the coun-
sellors of the Republic, he drew up a treatise entitled,
Consolation of Mind to tranquillize the Consciences of
good Men, and to prevent their entertaining any Dread
of the Interdict, published by Paul V. As this work was
designed for the sole use of government, it was not pub-
lished by the author, but was locked up in the archives
of the republic; whence a copy having some years
afterwards been clandestinely obtained, it was published
VOL. VIH. G G
• 338 SARPI.
at the Hague in 1725, both in the Italian and French
languages. In the same year an English version of it
appeared in London. Sarpi also published a translation
of A Treatise on Excommunication, by Gerson, both in
Latin and Italian, with an anonymous letter prefixed to
it. This work was immediately condemned by the In-
quisition ; whose sentence Bellarmine undertook to sup-
port in a strain of sophistical reasoning, which Sarpi
ably detected in An Aj^ology for Gerson. To the suc-
ceeding champions for the papal see, among whom were
Baronius and Bzovius, Sarpi made an unanswerable
reply in a piece entitled, Considerations on the Censures
of Paul V.
Sarpi had also a share in some other treatises in this
memorable controversy ; particularly in A Treatise on
the Interdict, published in the names of seven divines
of the republic. At length the papal court cited Sarpi
by a decree, October 30, 1606, under penalty of excom-
munication, to appear in person at Rome, and justify
himself from the heresies of which he was accused.
Despising, however, the thunders of the Vatican, he
refused to submit to the citation.
Even when the pope had come to an understanding
with the republic, the court of Rome could not forgive
Sarpi's attacks on the pope's authority ; and some of its
fanatical adherents were persuaded that it would be a
highly meritorious action to make away with a man who
had been condemned for heresy. Sarpi received inti-
mations from various quarters that designs were formed
either against his liberty or his life ; but, trusting to the
accommodation which had taken place, and the rectitude
of his own conduct, he lived in a state of security which
gave his enemies favourable opportuities of carrying
their plans into execution. Returning to his monastery
on the evening of the 5th of October, 1607, he was
attacked by five assassins armed with stilettoes, who
wounded him in fifteen places, and left him for dead
SARPI. 339
upon the spot. Providentially, none of these wounds
proved mortal, though three of them were exceedingly
dangerous. No sooner was the senate informed of this
murderous attempt, than, to show their high regard for
the sufferer, and their detestation of such a horrid
attempt, they broke up immediately, and came that night
in great numbers to his monastery ; ordered the physi-
cians to bring them regular accounts of him : and after-
wards knighted and richly rewarded Acquapendente,
for the great skill which he discovered in curing him.
That Sarpi himself entertained no doubts respecting the
quarter from which this wicked aim at his life proceeded,
appears from his saying pleasantly to his friend Acqua-
pendente one day while he was dressing his wounds,
that they were made Stylo Romanse Curiae. One of the
weapons, which the assassin had driven with such force
into Sarpi's cheek that he was obliged to leave it in the
wound, was hung up at the foot of a crucifix in the
Church of the Servites, with this inscription, Deo Filio
Liberatori.
Sarpi himself was now aware of the necessity of living
more privately in his monastery. In this retirement
he wrote his Account of the Quarrel between Paul V.
and the Republic of Venice, published in 1608. His
attention was directed in the next place to the arrange-
ment and completion of his celebrated History of the
Council of Trent, for which he had long before collected
ample materials. It was first published in London, by
Sir Nathaniel Brent, (by whom also it was translated
into English,) in 1619, in folio, under the feigned name
of Pietro Soave Polano, which is an anagram of Paolo
Sarpi Venetiano, and dedicated to James I. by Anthony
de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalatro, then a resident
in England. It was afterwards published in the original
Italian, the French, and other languages; and in 1736,
father Courayer published in London a new French
translation of it in 2 vols, folio, illustrated with valuable
340 SAUEIN.
critical, historical, and theological notes. Sarpi also
in the retirement of his monastery, wrote : — A Treatise
on Ecclesiastical Benefices, pointing out the means by
which the Church had acquired its immense revenues,
and the abuses which had taken place in the disposal
of them ; A Treatise on the Inquisition; De Jure Asylo-
rum ; a Treatise On the Manner of conducting the
Government of a Republic, so as to insure its Duration ;
and a continuation of Minuccio Minucci's, Archbishop
of Zara's, History of the Uscocchi, from 1602 to 1616.
The articles already enumerated, together with a volume
of Letters, are all the productions of Sarpi's pen which
have been published.
He died on the 14th of January, 1623, in the seventy-
second year of his age.
Of Paul Sarpi's History of the Council of Trent,
Ranke concludes an elaborate criticism with saying:
" His authorities are diligently collected, very well
handled, and used with superior intelligence ; nor can
it be said that they are falsified, or that they are
frequently or essentially perverted ; — but a spirit of
decided opposition pervades the whole work.
" In this way Sarpi struck anew into a different course
from that commonly pursued by the historians of his
day. He gave to their system of compilation the unity
of a general tone and purpose : his work is disparaging,
condemnatory, and hostile ; he set the first example of
a history which accompanies the whole progress of its
subject with increasing censure ; far more decided in
this than Thuanus, who first made a cursory use of
this method. Sarpi has found numberless imitators on
this score. (See the Life of Pallavicini.) — Fulgentio.
Life of Walton. Johnson. Hanke.
SAURIN, JAMES.
James Saukin was born at Nismes, in 1677, and upon
SAVONAROLA. 341
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, he went
with his father into exile, and having settled at Geneva,
was educated there. In his seventeenth year he quitted
his studies to enter the army, and made a campaign as a
cadet in Lord Galloway's company. But he quitted the
army, and returned to his studies at Geneva in 1696.
In 1700, he went to Holland, and thence to England,
where he continued nearly five years, and preached with
great acceptance among his fellow refugees in London.
In 1703 he married. Two years afterwards he returned
to Holland, where he became pastor to a Church of
French refugees, who were permitted to assemble in the
chapel belonging to the palace of the Princes of Orange
at the Hague, in which he officiated for the remainder of
his life. He died in 1730, in the fifty-fourth year of his
age. He was the author of 12 volumes of Sermons, five
of which were published by himself, between the years
1708 and 1725, in 8vo, and the remainder from his MSS.
Saurin also published, The State of Christianity in
France ; A Compendium of Christian Divinity and Mo-
rality, in the Catechetical Form; and. Discourses His-
torical, Critical, and Moral, on the most memorable
Events of the Old and New Testament. This last,
which is his principal work, forms 6 large folio volumes.
He died before the 3rd volume was completed, which
was finished by Roques, who added a fourth volume on
the Old Testament; Beausolve adding two other volumes
on the New Testament. — Life prefixed to the Translation
of his Sermons by Robinson.
SAVONAROLA, GIROLAMO MARIA FRANCESCO MATTHEO.
This extraordinary person is regarded by some as a
patriot and reformer, and by others he is represented
as a fanatic and a demagogue. Impartial history, while
it cannot entirely acquit him of fanaticism, vyill represent
G G 3
343 SAVONAROLA.
hira as a pious and disinterested man whose generous
spirit was roused to indignation by the iniquities of the
Church of Rome, and whose objects were noble. He
was born on the 21st of September, 1452. He was
educated at first by his grandfather, and on his death
his father procured for him teachers from whom he
became acquainted with Greek and Roman literature,
the study of which had been lately revived. He was
intended for the medical profession, but having been
crossed in love, he suddenly determined " to leave the
world," as the Romanists style it, and in 1475, he sought
refuge in the Dominican Cloister at Bologna, acting thus
in opposition to the wishes of his father.
Rigid in all the observances of his ascetic rule, hum-
ble, holy, devoted, Savonarola soon obtained as high a
reputation for sanctity as for learning; for a time he
was entirely occupied in reforming himself, and his
companions were glad to share the credit of his piety,
while as yet their repose was undisturbed by that in-
convenient goodness which aims at reforming others.
In his lonely cell, by fervent prayer and devout medi-
tation he learnt more and more of the attributes of God,
and of the nature of His commands to His creatures.
It seems natural that an honest mind, enlightened by
just ideas of the Deity, should look for truth in the
agreement of written revelation with the light of natural
conscience, and with the providential government of the
universe, since, each emanating from the source of truth,
they must agree perfectly together, though sometimes
their connection is concealed ; and that in any apparent
contradiction it should suspect some error in the inter-
pretation of one of these. Savonarola knew his Bible
well ; he observed that the consciences of his Romish
brethren, clergy as well as laity, were so far from re-
sponding to its precepts that the general tone of morals
was thoroughly opposed to the spirit of the New Testa-
ment, and his first alarm was the discovery of this
SAVONAROLA. 343
darkened conscience ; he did not yet fully perceive the
deeper evil, that by the false interpretations of his
Church, Scripture itself was wrested to support those
who called evil good, though suspicions of false doctrines
are often mingled with censures of moral guilt.
In the New Testament he devoted his special attention
to the study of the Apocalypse, but he did not confine
himself to the New Testament ; he had indeed a strong
partiality for the Old. The brothers of his order were
surprised at the predilection of Savonarola for a book
which had fallen into such neglect in the seats of reli-
gion ; — most of all, they wondered at the great attention
and regard which he paid to the more ancient writings.
"Why," demanded the monks of Savonarola, "do you
study the Old Testament ? Surely it is of no use to go
over again the past, and perplex our minds with the
understanding of fulfilled histories ?" To this question
Savonarola replied by another — " For what purpose then
has God preserved these writings? and why have the
fathers of the Church equally expounded the Old Testa-
ment and the New, and recognized the inter- dependency
of the one with the other?" Not a reason for study, but
an excuse for their indolence, was what the monks had
desired — so they left Savonarola unanswered, and the
Scriptures unread.
When he was ordained he soon became celebrated as
a preacher, although in his first attempts at sacred
oratory he appears to have failed. And from an early
period in his career he assumed the position of a re-
former. In the year 1485, he preached in Brescia,
where he there describes the state of the medieval
Church.
" The popes have attained through the most shameful
simony and subtlety the highest priestly dignities, and
even then, when seated in the holy chair, surrender
themselves to a shamefully voluptuous life and an insa-
tiable avarice. The cardinals and bishops follow their
344 SAVONAROLA.
example. No discipline, no fear of God is in them.
Many believe in no God. The chastity of the cloister
is slain, and they who should serve God with holy zeal
have become cold or lukewarm. The princes openly
exercise tyranny. Their subjects encourage them in
their evil propensities, their robberies, their adulteries,
their sacrileges. But, after the corrupted human race
has abused for so many centuries the long-suffering of
God, then at last the justice of God appears, demanding
that the rulers of the people, who with base examples
corrupt all the rest, should be brought to heavy punish-
ment, and that the people of Asia and Africa, now
dwelling in the darkness of ignorance, should be made
partakers of the light."
From this time his fame as a preacher and even as a
prophet spread far and wide, until in 1487, he became
Prior of St. Marco in Florence. The monastery of St.
Marco had been founded by Cosmo di Medici, and as
the patronage still remained in his family, they naturally
expected the deference which former priors had willingly
paid to protectors so powerful and so worthy. Savona-
rola however looked with a jealous eye upon the autho-
rity of the Medici as hostile to liberty ; he refused on
his induction to acknowledge Lorenzo as head of the
republic, and shunned his presence when he visited the
monastery, alleging that he held communion with God
and not with man : when reminded that Lorenzo was
in the garden, he inquired, "Did he ask for me?"
"No." "Then let him proceed with his devotions."
By reviving in example and precept the austere rule of
St. Dominic, he became obnoxious to all those in his
convent into whom he could not infuse some portion of
his own enthusiasm, and to whom his conduct was a
constant reproach. He was a great enemy to idleness ;
slept but four hours, being present day and night in
choir at all sacred offices ; and he gave audiences at
certain times to all who wanted his help in resolving
SAVONAROLA. 345
conscientious scruples. His greatest recreation was
when a little leisure remained to be passed with the
novices : he often said to the old fathers, " Do you wish
I should preach well ? give me time to converse with my
children." While with them he ever spoke of divine
things and of the Sacred Scriptures, and acknowledged
that this way he had learned much, for that God often-
times spoke and expounded His revelation by these sim-
ple youths as by pure vessels full of the Holy Spirit.
The cells of the monks were frequently visited by their
prior, who heard or inquired what was the subject of
their conversation : if it concerned eternity, he excited
them to greater animation, mingling in it, and remind-
ing them that God was present ; if they were not occu-
pied in celestial things, he adroitly changed the strain
to something holy in such a way that none were embar-
rassed, and all became accustomed to spiritual converse.
He was strictly abstemious, and no man ever doubted
his chastity. He desired the coarsest and most patched
clothing ; once in consulting about reformation with two
abbots of Vallambrosa, he happened to glance at their
cowls, which were of beautiful velvet, and smiled; the
abbots, somewhat blushing, said by way of excuse, " Bro-
ther, do not wonder at the fineness of our cowls, they
last so much the longer;" the brother replied, •' What a
pity St. Benedetto and St. Gio. Gualbert did not know
this secret, they would have worn the same."
Not content with monastic reform, Savonarola pro-
ceeded openly to attack the authority of the Medici,
accusing them of aiming at the sovereignty of the state ;
and, according to the account of some contemporary
authors, predicting the fall of the family under Pietro
and the approaching death of Lorenzo. The latter how-
ever showed no disposition to punish this presumption,
but merely restrained Savonarola from giving public
lectures, and declared that all attempts to reform the
morals of the Florentines met with his hearty concur^
346 SAVONAROLA.
rence. He gave also very decided testimony of his
esteem for the character of the reformer, in sending for
him when at the point of death, that he might receive
his confession and bestow absolution. Savonarola went.
To his inquiries if Lorenzo continued firm in the Catho-
lic faith, the latter replied in the affirmative. Then he
exacted a promise that whatever had been unjustly
obtained from others should be restored ; Lorenzo an-
swered, " Certainly, father, I shall do so' or if not able,
I shall strictly enjoin the duty on my successors." To
an exhortation on bearing death with fortitude, he re-
plied, " Cheerfully, if it be the will of God;" but when
Savonarola further insisted that he should re-establish
the independence of Florence, he refused to comply,
and the father departed without absolving him. Poli-
tiano, who might probably have been present, says that
Savonarola did give absolution, but as his narrative does
not agree so well with the characters of the parties as
that of Pico, the friend and biographer of Savonarola,
and as he was a man to whom all religious ordinances
were indifferent, if not contemptible, he is very likely
to be incorrect : impartiality is out of the question in
both cases.
Pietro di Medici succeeded his father, but could not
hold the reins of government with so firm a hand, and
Florence was soon distracted by factions.
Savonarola now took a more decided part in affairs of
state. Not only in the Duomo and St. Marco, which
were crowded, but in the public squares, he harangued
assembled thousands, bitterly inveighing against the
corruptions of the pontifical court, no less than against
the general licentiousness of manners and the domineer-
ing spirit of the Medici. He even delivered prophecies
of future miseries, to the utterance and accomplishment
of which friends and enemies alike bear witness : the
latter attributing them to his uncommon sagacity and
extensive information; the former to the immediate
SAVONAROLA. 347
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, — both probably consider-
ing as deliberate assertion many things which were but
scintillations of his fiery eloquence, and which rather
threatened than foretold the disastrous future.
But his politics did not distract his mind from his
spiritual duties as a preacher; and at Florence, as for-
merly at Brescia, we find him drawing a picture of the
state of religion, when Popery was predominant. " In
our days," says he, " when all Christians have come to
such a pass, that they communicate only once a year,
and that with very sorry preparation, they are worse
than the heathen were, and every day become more
depraved. Every year they confess their sins, and yet
return to the same sins, promising God every time to
live better, but never performing their promises. Our
priests, who without devotion and reverence administer
the Supper, are yet worse than the laity. Thus because
Christians have forsaken the true service of Christ, they
are now-a-days fallen into such blindness, that they know
not what the name of Christian means, and wherein the
true service of God consists. They occupy themselves
with outward ceremonies, and know nothing of the inner
service of God. Seldom or never they read the Sacred
Scriptures, or if they read them, they understand them
not; or if they understand them, they have no taste
for them — yea, they only say, * Our soul is disgusted
with this vulgar feast. Who will give us to hear Cicero's
eloquence, and the sounding words of the poets, the soft
diction of Plato, and the acuteness of Aristotle? For
the Scriptures are far too simple, contain food only fit
for women. Preach to us the refined and sublime.'
And thus the preachers accommodate themselves to
the people. Since they could no more endure sound
doctrine, the people have given themselves to lies,
they invite such teachers as suit their itching ears, they
turn themselves away from the truth, and follow cun-
ningly-devised fables. Also the princes and heads of
us SAVONAROLA;
the people will not hear the truth, but say, * Preach to
us what pleases us, preach to us flatteries, and tell us
something good.' And hence. Christian people now
wander in great darkness."
Of the state of the monasteries and the ill effects of
the constrained celibacy of the clergy we have his opinion
thus stated: — "'The chastity of the cloister is slain!'
Had not the celibacy of the clergy become a futile pretext,
provoking fornication and adultery, and encouraging con-
cubinage ? Had not the Church become a brothel ? was
not the Church of Rome even the Mother of Harlots ?
Was it not written on her front, blazoned shamelessly
on the folds of her tiara ? Did she any longer attempt
to conceal it ? was not the veil altogether withdrawn ?
Innocent VIII. regarded as no crime what he had in-
herited as a custom. The clergy were rendered dissolute
by an absurd regulation, which outraged nature without
ministering to grace, and violated the precept of Scrip-
ture, declaring, that ' Marriage is honourable in all.'
The cloisters were grossly immoral — most odious prac-
tices were indulged — all due to what Luther calls ' the
hell of celibacy.' " Savanarola had not arrived at this
perception; he was a monk. He thought it right to
take the vow of chastity — he had taken it, and he kept
it. In all the relations of life, he w^as a sincere man ;
and it was this which made him sternly heroic — which
fitted him for a reformer — which predisposed him for the
martyr's crown.
It does not fall within our province to narrate the
political conduct of Savonarola ; it is sufficient to say
that in acting as he thought for the good of his country
he was always opposed to the family of the Medici. The
exiled partisans of the Medici carried their complaints
to Rome, where they were favourably received ; the pope
lent a willing ear to accusations against his most formid-
able adversary, Savonarola. He was now doubly ob-
noxious as the political favourer of the French, and the
SAVONAROLA. 349
bold denouncer of the enormous vices of the pontifical
court and family : not only opposing them in sermons,
but writing to the emperor and the King of Spain,
representing the Church as falling into ruin, and en-
treating the convocation of a general council, in which
he undertook to prove that the Church was without a
head, since he, who had obtained tlie chair of St. Peter
by bribery, was unworthy not only of his high dignity,
but of the name of Christian. Copies of these letters
were sent to Rome, and they exasperated Alexander to
the utmost ; rich, clever, and a pope, he could not fail to
have a party, ami found the Franciscans willing instru-
ments of vengeance against a member of the rival order ;
many volunteered a service more applauded and better
recompensed at Rome than any other ; but there was
some difficulty in finding vulnerable points in the cha-
racter of Savonarola, and in those of his doctrines which
were most practically obnoxious. The pope sent for a
learned bishop, and said : —
'* I wish you to controvert the sermons of this brother."
Bishop. — " Holy father, I will do it ; but I must have
arms to oppose and overcome him."
Pope. — " How arms?"
Bishop. — " This brother says w^e ought not to keep
concubines, be licentious, or commit simony — he says
true ; what can I answer to this ?"
Pope. — " What is to be done in this matter ?"
Bishop. — "Reward him, make him a friend by honour-
ing him with a red hat, provided he leaves off prophe-
sying, and retracts what he said."
In pursuance of this plan, a learned man, Ludovrco,
was sent to Savonarola, who received him kindly, and
argued with him three days ; Ludovico, failing to con-
vince by reason, offered the cardinalate, which Savona-
rola refused, and invited his guest to hear the preaching
next morning, when, after repeating his denunciations
more violently than ever, he declared he would have no
VOL. VIII. H H
350 SAVONAROLA.
other red hat than one tinged by the blood of mar-
tyrdom. The messenger returned persuaded that the
brother was indeed a true servant of God.
After the failure of this lenient measure, the pope
first silenced, and then excommunicated the refractory
monk, causing the sentence to be read in the Duomo of
Florence : for a while Savonarola submitted, and relin-
quished his pulpit to Domenico da Pescia, and other
friends ; he hesitated to shake off an authority which
had long been the cement of the ecclesiastical fabric,
however unjustly it was now exercised, but soon he
resumed his functions in defiance of the pope's mandate,
affirming that he knew it was the will of God he should
not submit to the decisions of such a corrupt tribunal,
and declared that he should be condemned of God, if
ever he asked absolution for this resistance.
In this proceeding he was upheld by the magistracy
of Florence, as appears by the spirited letter they sent
to Alexander.
The effect of Savonarola's eloquence and especially
of his preaching was wonderful and beneficial, and by
success he was morally injured. While at a distance
from the world his mind had been open to the reception
of all truth, he had listened to the Word of God almost
exclusively, and learned purer doctrines than those trans-
mitted through a corrupt Church, doctrines which Luther
continued to learn with a mind wholly bent on theolo-
gical investigation, and communicated to others gradu-
ally as they were presented to himself; but Savonarola,
with only an imperfect apprehension of them, plunged
into the temporal affairs of men, to use for their benefit
the little knowledge he had acquired, and amidst the
confusion and error by which he was surrounded, had
much difficulty in holding fast that little, and no leisure
to enlarge his store. The men with whom he was neces-
sarily associated in the prosecution of his designs in-
fected him with their superstitions ; the injustice and
SAVONAROLA. 351
opposition he encountered disturbed the exercise of his
cool judgment ; it was not till after the conclusion of his
poHtical career that he advanced again beyond his times,
and left behind both the world and the Church of Kome
in his nearer approach to Divine Truth.
Exhausted by fatigue, abstinence, and incessant emo-
tion, Savonarola fell sick and was compelled to retire
from public duties, and commit the exposition of his
doctrines principally to Domenico da Pescia, whose zeal
outran his judgment ; he appears to have interrupted
his master's expression of confidence in God, " Who,"
he said " would, if necessary, enable him to pass unhurt
through the fire," into an appeal to miracles in support
of his doctrine ; and though repeatedly warned not to
give way to a wild imagination, he suffered himself to
be so far transported in the heat of declamation as to
accept a challenge thrown out by a monk of the Minor
Observantines, and refer the decision between their re-
spective opinions to the result of an ordeal fire ! This
barbarous proposition had not hitherto been noticed by
Savonarola, who always denied that it originated with
him or his party. The turbulent and divided multitude
gladly caught at the promise of a spectacle, and the
magistrates, some of one party and some of another,
agreed to try this mode of ascertaining the truth, though
there were some who either moved by humanity, or as
one might suppose, for the purpose of throwing ridicule
upon the whole affair, affirmed that it would be quite
as satisfactory, and much less cruel, if the two monks
were immersed in a tub of water (for their greater com-
fort w^arm water,) and he who came out dry was to be
considered the conqueror.
A day was appointed for the trial. Savonarola with
his champion, at the head of a numerous procession,
appeared at the place, and thundered out the psalm
" Let the Lord arise and scatter his enemies." The
Franciscan came ; the flames were kindled ; when Savo-
852 SCHWARTZ.
narola, finding that the adverse party was not to be inti-'
midated, proposed that Domenico should be allowed to
carry the host with him into the fire. This was ex-
claimed against by the whole assembly as an impious
and sacrilegious proposal. It was, however, insisted
upon by Domenico, who thereby eluded the ordeal. But
the result was fatal to the credit of Savonarola. The
populace insulted and turned against him. His enemies,
after a sharp conflict, apprehended him, with Domenico
and another friar, and dragged them to prison. An
assembly of ecclesiastics, directed by two emissaries from
Eome, sat in judgment upon them. The resolution and
eloquence of Savonarola disconcerted his judges at the
first examination ; but upon the application of torture,
his constancy gave way, and he acknowledged the impos-
ture of his pretending to supernatural powers. He and
his companions were condemned to be first strangled and
then burnt, and the sentence was put in execution on
the 23rd of May, 1498, before an immense crowd of
spectators, a part of whom still venerated him as a saint
and martyr, while the rest execrated him as a hypocrite
and seducer. — Life and Times of Savonarola. Foreign
Quarterly.
SCHWARTZ, CHRISTIAN FREDERICK.
This illustrious man and distinguished missionary was
born at Sonnenburg, in the province of Bradenburg,
in 1726. He was educated at the University of Halle,
and there formed his resolution to engage in missionary
labour. Having determined to make India the seat of
his ministry, he sailed for Tranquebar, on the Coroman-
del coast, in 1750, to superintend the Danish Mission.
In 1766, he became one of the missionaries of the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, to which the Danish
mission was afterwards transferred. He removed first to
SCOT. 353
Trinchinopoly, and afterwards to Tanjore. He also went
on a successful embassy from the presidency of Madras
to Hyder Ali at Seringapatam ; and in 1783, he, through
the influence of his high moral reputation, saved Tanjore,
then besieged by Hyder's troops, from the horrors of
famine. In 1785, he engaged in a scheme for the estab-
lishment of schools throughout the country for the pur-
pose of teaching the natives the English language, which
was carried into effect at Tanjore and other places. In
1787, the Raja of Tanjore confided to the care of Schwartz
his successor Maha Sarbojee, a minor, who, some years
afterwards, manifested his fihal affection for his tutor
and protector by erecting a monument, by Flaxman, to
his memory in the mission church at Tanjore. Schwartz
died February 13th, 1798.
SCOT, OR, ROTHEEHAM, THOMAS.
Thomas Scot, alias Rotherham, a munificent bene-
factor to Lincoln College, Oxford, was born at Rotherham,
in Yorkshire, from whence he took his name, but that
of his family appears to have been Scot. He rose by his
talents and learning to the highest ranks in Church and
State, having been successively fellow of King's College,
Cambridge, master of Pembroke Hall, chancellor of that
university, prebendary of Sarum, chaplain to King Ed-
ward IV., provost of Beverley, keeper of the Privy Seal,
secretary to four kings, Bishop of Rochester and Lincoln,
Archbishop of York, and lord-chancellor. His buildings
at Cambridge, Whitehall, Southwell, and Thorp, are
eminent proofs of his magnificent taste and spirit.
He was promoted to the see of Lincoln in 1471, and
we learn from his preface to his body of statutes, that a
visit through his diocese, in which Oxford then was,
proved the occasion of his liberality to Lincoln College.
On his arrival there, in 1474, John Tristroppe, the third
h H 3
354 SCOTT.
rector of that society, preached the visitation sermon
from Psalm Ixxx. 14, 15 : — " Behold and visit this vine,
and the vine-yard which thy right hand hath planted,
<&c." In this discourse, which, as usual, was delivered in
Latin, the preacher addressed his particular requests to
the bishop, exhorting him to complete his college, now
imperfect and defective both in buildings and govern-
ment. Rotherham is said to have been so well pleased
with the application of the text and subject, that he
stood up and declared that he would do what was desired.
Accordingly, besides what he contributed to the build-
ings, he increased the number of fellows from seven to
twelve, and gave them the livings of Twyford in Buck-
inghamshire, and Long Combe in Oxfordshire. He
formed also in 1479, a body of statutes, in which, after
noticing with an apparent degree of displeasure, that
although Oxford was in the diocese of Lincoln, no col-
lege had yet made provision for the natives of that dio-
cese, he enjoined that the rector should be of the Diocese
of Lincoln or York, and the fellows or scholars should
be persons born in the Dioceses of Lincoln and York,
and one of Wells, with a preference, as to those from the
diocese of York, to his native parish of Rotherham. This
prelate died in 1500 at Cawood, and was buried in the
Chapel of St. Mary, under a marble tomb which he had
built. — Chalmers.
SCOTT, JOHN.
John Scott was born at Chippenham, in Wiltshire, in
1638. He was originally intended for trade, but after-
wards went to New Inn Hall, Oxford, where he matricu-
lated in 1657. When ordained he came to London,
where he officiated in the perpetual curacy of Trinity in
the Minories, and as Minister of St. Thomas's, in South-
wark. In 1677, he was presented to the Rectory of St,
SCOTT. 355
Peter Le Poor, in Old Broad-street : and was collated to
a prebend in St. Paul's Cathedral, in 1684. In 1685,
he accumulated the degrees of bachelor and doctor in
divinity.
His great work was the Christian Life. The first part
was published in 1681, 8vo, with this title, *' The Christian
Life, from its beginning to its consummation in Glory,
together with the several means and instruments of
Christianity conducing thereunto, with directions for
private devotion and forms of prayer, fitted to the several
states of Christians;" in 1685, another part, "wherein
the fundamental principles of Christian duty are as-
signed, explained, and proved;" in 1686, another part,
" wherein the doctrine of our Saviour's meditation is
explained and proved." This admirable work was
strongly recommended to students of divinity by the late
Dr. Lloyd, Bishop of Oxford.
When Popery was encroaching under Charles XL and
James II. he was one of those champions who opposed it
with great warmth and courage, particularly in the dedi-
cation of a sermon preached at Guildhall Chapel, Nov.
5, 1683, to Sir William Hooker, lord-mayor of London,
in which he declares that " Domitian and Dioclesian
were but puny persecutors and bunglers in cruelty, com-
pared with the infallible cut-throats of the apostolical
chair."
After the Revolution, he was offered the Bishopric of
Chester, which he refused from scruples about the Oath
of Homage, as he did afterwards another bishopric, the
Deanery of Worcester, and a prebend of Windsor, because
they were the places of persons who had been deprived.
In 1691, he succeeded Sharp, afterwards Archbishop of
York, in the Rectory of St. Giles-in-the-Fields ; and in
the same year he was made canon of Windsor. He died
in 1694. Besides the Christian Life, he published also
Examination of Bellarmine's Eighth Note concerning
Sanctity of Doctrine; The Texts Examined, which
356 SCOQGAL.
Papists cite out of the Bible concerning Prayer in an
Unknown Tongue ; Certain Cases of Conscience resolved,
concerning the lawfulness of joining with Forms of
Prayer in public worship ; A Collection of Cases and
other discourses lately written, to recover Dissenters
to the Communion of the Church of England, 1685,
4to. All his works were published in 2 vols., folio,
1104:.— Wood. Biog. Diet.
SCOUGAL, HENRY.
This admirable writer, whose works still live, and which
found an editor of late years in the late incomparable
Bishop Jebb, did much in a short time, since he was
called to his reward in his twenty- seventh year. Of a life
so short, little is known. He was born in June, 1650, at
Salton, in East Lothian, and was son of the Bishop of
Aberdeen. In the University of Aberdeen, he received
his education, and so distinguished himself, that at
the age of twenty, he was enabled to fill the office of
professor of philosophy, with honour to himself and
with profit to his pupils.
He maintained his authority among the students in
such a way as to keep them in awe, and at the same
time to gain their love and esteem. Sunday evenings
were spent with his scholars in discoursing of, and
encouraging religion in principle and practice. He
allotted a considerable part of his yearly income for
the poor; and many indigent families of different
persuasions, were relieved in their difficulties by his
bounty, although so secretly that they knew not whence
their supply came.
Having been a professor of philosophy for four years,
he was at the age of twenty-three admitted into holy
orders, and settled at Auchterless, a small village about
twenty miles from Aberdeen. Here his zeal and ability
SCOUGAL. 35t
in his great Master's service were eminently displayed.
He catechised with great plainness and affection, and
used the most endearing methods to recommend religion
to his hearers. He endeavoured to bring them to a close
attendance on public worship, and joined with them
himself at the beginning of it. He revived the use of
lectures, looking upon it as very edifying to comment
upon and expound large portions of Scripture. In the
twenty-fifth year of his age, he was appointed professor of
divinity in the King's College, Aberdeen, which he at
first declined, but when induced to accept it, he applied
himself with zeal and diligence to the exercise of this
office. After he had guarded his pupils against the
common artifices of the Roman missionaries in making
proselytes, he proposed two subjects for public exercise :
the one, of the pastoral care, the other, of casuistical
divinity.
The inward dispositions of this excellent man, are
best seen in his writings, to which his pious and blame-
less life was wholly conformable. His days, however,
were soon numbered ; in the twenty- seventh year of his
age, he fell into a consumption, which wasted him by
slow degrees ; but during the whole time of his sickness
he behaved with the utmost resignation, nor did he
ever show the least impatience. He died June 20,
]778, in the twenty-eighth year of his age, and was
buried in King's College Church, in Old Aberdeen.
His principal work is entitled *' The Life of God in
the Soul of Man," which has undergone many editions,
and has been thought alike valuable for the sublime
spirit of piety which it breathes, and for the purity
and elegance of its style. He left his books to the library
of his college, and five thousand marks to the office of
professor of divinity. He composed a form of morning
and evening service for the Cathedral Church of Aber-
deen, which may be seen in Orem's Description of the
Canonry of Old Aberdeen, printed in No. 3. of the
358 SECKER.
Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica." His treatise on
the " Life of God," &c, was first printed in his hfe-time
by Bishop Burnet about 1677, without a name, which
the author's modesty studiously concealed. It went
through several subsequent editions, and was patro-
nised by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge,
and was reprinted in 1786, with the addition of •' Nine
Discourses on important subjects," by the same author,
and his Funeral Sermon, by Dr. G. G. — EncyclopcEdia
Perthensis. Bihl. Topog. Britan.
SECKER, THOMAS.
Of this prelate, Pope said, ** Seeker is decent ;" and
decent and decorous he was, without excellence, in
every department of life. He was respectable as a
scholar, as a divine, as a writer, as a parish priest
and as a bishop. And he lived at a period when a
government hostile to the Church, looked out for res-
pectable mediocrity, to fill the highest ecclesiastical
stations. He was born in 1693, at Sibthorpe, in the
Vale of Belvoir, in Nottinghamshire. His parents were
dissenters, and he was educated for the dissenting
ministry. But having perceived the errors of dissenting
principles, he declined to officiate in the capacity of a
minister, although with his usual cautious moderation
he abstained from declaring himself a Churchman. In
1716, he applied himself to the study of physic, both
in London and at Paris. He had been acquainted with
the celebrated Joseph Butler when he was at a Dis-
senting School, at Tewksbury, and while at Paris he
received an offer from Butler, now preacher at the Rolls,
to obtain for him a preferment in the Church of
England, if he would conform. He was enabled to
make the offer through his intimacy with Mr. Edward
Talbot, son of the Bishop of Durham, Seeker acceded
SECKER. 869
to the proposal, and proceeding with his usual regard to
propriety, took his medical degree at Leyden, in 1721,
and, entering at Exeter College, Oxford, received a
degree by diploma at that university after a year's
residence.
Having been ordained by the Bishop of Durham, his
progress was rapid. He was made chaplain to Bishop
Talbot ; he had the living of Hough ton-le- Spring, which
he exchanged in 1727 for that of Ryton, and a prebend
of Durham ; in 1 732, he was nominated one pf the
king's chaplains, and in the following year Hector of St.
James's, Piccadilly. In that year he went to Oxford
to take his degree of doctor of laws (not being of sutfi-
cient standing for that of divinity.) On this occasion he
preached his celebrated Act Sermon, on the advantages
and duties of academical education, which was printed
at the desire of the heads of houses, and quickly passed
through several editions. . Early in 1 735, he was made
Bishop of Bristol. In 1737, he was translated to
Oxford. In 1750, he gave up the Rectory of St. James's,
and his Durham prebend, and was made Dean of St.
Paul's. In 1758, he became Archbishop of Canterbury.
Bishop Porteus observes, that when translated to
the Metropolitan See, all designs and institutions that
tended to advance good morals and true religion, he
patronized with zeal and generosity. He contributed
largely to the maintenance of schools for the poor, to
rebuilding or repairing parsonage houses and places of
worship, and gave at one time no less than £500
towards erecting a chapel in the Parish of Lambeth,
to which he afterwards added near d6 100 more. To the
Society for promoting Christian Knowledge he was a
liberal benefactor, and to that for propagating the Gos-
pel in Foreign Parts, of which he was the president,
he paid much attention ; was constant at all the meetings
of its members, (even sometimes when his health would
ill permit it,) and superintended their deliberations with
360 SECKER.
consummate prudence and temper. He was sincerely
desirous to improve to the utmost that excellent insti-
tution, and to diffuse the knowledge and belief of
Christianity as wide as the revenues of the society,
and the extreme difficulty of establishing schools and
missions amongst the Indians, and of making any
effectual and durable impressions of religion on their
uncivilized minds, would admit. But Dr. Mayhew, of
Boston, in New England, having in an angry pamphlet
accused the society of not sufficiently answering these
good purposes, and of departing widely from the spirit
of their charter; with many injurious reflections inter-
spersed on the Church of England, and the design of
appointing bishops in America; his grace on all these
accounts thought himself called upon to confute his
invectives, which he did in a short anonymous piece,
entitled. An Answer to Dr. Mayhew's Observations on
the Charter and Conduct of the Society for propagating
the Gospel ; printed for Rivington, 1764, and reprinted in
America. The strength of argument, as well as fairness
and good temper, with which this Answer was written,
had a considerable effect on all impartial men, and even
on the doctor himself, who plainly perceived that he had
no common adversary to deal with ; and could not help
acknowledging him to be "a person of excellent sense,
and a happy talent at writing ; apparently free from the
sordid illiberal spirit of bigotry; one of a cool temper,
who often shewed much candour, was well acquainted
with the affairs of the society, and in general a fair rea-
soner." He was therefore so far wrought upon by his
*' worthy answerer," as to abate much in his Reply of
his former warmth and acrimony. But as he still would
not allow himself to be "wrong in any material point,"
nor forbear giving way too much to reproachful language
and ludicrous representations, he was again animad-
verted upon by Mr. Apthorpe, in a sensible Tract,
entitled, "A Review of Dr. Mayhew's Remarks," &c.,
SECKER. 361
printed also for Rivington, in 1765. This put an end
to the dispute. The doctor on reading it declared he
should not answer it, and the following year he died.
It appeared evidently in the course of this controversy,
that Dr. Mayhew, and probably many other worthy
men amongst the Dissenters both at home and abroad,
had conceived very unreasonable and groundless jea-
lousies of the Church of England, and its governors ;
and had in particular greatly misunderstood the pro-
posal for appointing bishops in some of the Colonies.
TJie chief reasons for desiring an establishment of this
nature, were, the want of persons vested with proper
authority, to administer to the members of the Church
of England the ancient and useful office of confirmation ;
to superintend the conduct of the episcopal clergy ; and
to save candidates for the ministry the trouble, cost, and
hazard of coming to England for ordination. It was
alleged, that the expence of crossing the Atlantic for
that purpose could not be less than £100, that near a
fifth part of those w^ho took that voyage had actually
lost their lives ; and that in consequence of these dis-
couragements, one half of the Churches in several pro-
vinces were destitute of clergymen. Common humanity,
as well as common justice, pleaded strongly for a remedy
to these evils ; and there appeared to be no other eflPec-
tual remedy but the appointment of one or more bishops
in some of the episcopal Colonies. The danger and
inconveniences, which the Dissenters seemed to appre-
hend from that measure, were thought to be effectually
guarded against by the mode of appointment which was
proposed. What that mode was, may be seen in the
following extract from the archbishop's Answer to Dr.
Mayhew, in which he explains concisely and clearly the
only plan for such an establishment that was ever meant
to be carried into execution.
" The Church of England is, in its constitution, epis-
copal. It is, in some of the Plantations, confessedly the
VOL. VIII J I
362 . SECKER.
established Church ; in the rest are many congregations
adhering to it ; and through the late extension of the
British dominions, it is likely that there will be more.
All members of every Church are, according to the prin-
ciples of liberty, entitled to every part of what they
conceive to be the benefits of it, entire and complete,
so far as consists with the welfare of civil government.
Yet the members of our Church in America do not thus
enjoy its benefits, having no Protestant bishop within
three thousand miles of them ; a case which never had
its parallel before in the Christian world. Therefore
it is desired that two or more bishops may be appointed
for them, to reside where his majesty shall think most
convenient; that they may have no concern in the least
with any persons who do not profess themselves to be of
the Church of England, but may ordain ministers for
such as do; may confirm their children when brought
to them at a fit age for that purpose ; and take such
oversight of the episcopal clergy, as the Bishop of Lon-
don's commissaries in those parts have been empowered
to take, and have taken without offence. But it is not
desired in the least that they should hold courts to try
matrimonial or testamentary causes ; or be vested with
any authority now exercised, either by provincial gover-
nors, or subordinate magistrates ; or infringe or diminish
any privileges or liberties enjoyed by any of the laity,
even of our own communion. This is the real and
the only scheme that hath been planned for bishops in
America ; and whosoever hath heard of any other, hath
been misinformed through mistake or design. And as
to the place of their residence," his grace further de-
clares, "that it neither is, nor ever was intended or
desired to fix one in New England ; but that episcopal
colonies have always been proposed."
The doctor on reading this account confessed that, if
it were the true one, "he had been misinformed himself,
Stud knew of others who had been so in common with
SECKER. 363
him; and that if such a scheme as this were carried
into execution, and only such consequences were to
follow, as the proposer had professedly in view, he could
not object against it, except on the same principle that
he should object against the Church of England in
general."
As it came however from an unknown writer, he
thought himself at liberty to consider it as nothing more
than the imaginary scheme of '.a private man, till it was
confirmed by better authority. It now appears to have
come from the best authority, and it is certain that this
mode of establishing bishops in xlmerica, was not in-
vented merely "to serve a present turn," being precisely
the same with that proposed by Bishop Butler twenty
years ago; and with that mentioned by his grace, in
his Letter to the Right Honourable Horatio Walpole,
written when he was Bishop of Oxford, and published
since his death by his executors, Mrs. Catherine Talbot,
and Dr. Daniel Burton; in which the whole affair is set
in a right point of view, his own sentiments upon it
more fully explained, and an answet given to the chief
objections against such a proposal.
Bishop Porteus remarks, " It is a very remarkable
circumstance, and a complete justification of the arch-
bishop's sentiments and conduct on the subject of an
American episcopacy, that notwithstanding the violent
opposition to that measure when he espoused it, yet no
sooner did the American Provinces become independent
States, than application was made to the English bishops
by some of those States, to consecrate bishops for them
according to the rites of the Church of England. And
accordingly three bishops were actually consecrated here
some years ago, one for Pensylvania, another for New
York, and a third for Virginia."
He died in 1768, and was buried in the church-yard
of Lambeth parish. He expended upwards of £300 in
arranging and improving the MS. library at Lambeth.
364 SEDGWICK.
He also made it bis business to collect books in all
languages from most parts of Europe, at a great expense,
and left them to the library at his death. The greatest
part of his noble collection of books he bequeathed to
the archiepiscopal library of Lambeth. To the MS.
library there he left a large number of valuable MSS.
written by himself on a great variety of subjects, critical
and theological. His well known Catechetical Lectures,
and his MS. sermons, hg left to be revised by his two
chaplains, Dr. Stinton and Dr. Porteus, by whom they
were published in 1770.
SEDGWICK, OBADIAH.
Obadiah Sedgwick was born at Marlborough, in Wilt-
shire, in 1000, and educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford;
after which he obtained the Vicarage of Coggeshall, in
Essex; but in the rebellion he removed to London, and
was chosen preacher at St. Paul's, Covent-garden, and a
member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines.
Wood says, " that while he preached at Mildred's,
which was only to exasperate the people to rebel and
confound episcopacy, it was usual with him, especially
in hot weather, to unbutton his doublet in the pulpit,
that his breath might be the longer, and his voice more
audible, to rail against the king's party, and those who
were near him, whom he cdWed popish counsellors.'' The
same author adds, " He was a great leader and abettor
of the Reformation pretended to be carried on by the
Presbyterians ; whose peaceable maxims, like razors set
with oil, cut the throat of majesty with a keen smooth-
ness. This he did in an especial manner, in Sept , 1644,
when he, with great concernment, told the people several
times, that God was angry with the army for not cutting
off delinquents.'"
It has also been said, that Mr. Sedgwick was " a
SEED. 365
preacher of treason, rebellion, and nonsense," even in
his sermons before the parliament.
In 1653, or 1654, he was appointed one of the tryers
or examiners of ministers ; and soon after one of the
commissioners of London for ejecting " ignorant and
scandalous ministers," that is, orthodox and pious
divines. These Covenanters who were so loud in their
clamour when, at the Restoration the clergy of the
Church of England were restored to their property, not
only ousted them when they had the power, but ma-
ligned and misrepresented them as some of their suc-
cessors are still accustomed to do.
He died in 1658. He pubHshed :— The Fountain
Opened ; An Exposition of Psalm xxiii. ; The Anatomy
of Secret Sins ; The Parable of the Prodigal ; Synopsis
of Christianity; and other works long since for-
gotten, the list of which occupies more than a page
in Pteid's History of the Westminster Divines.— TFoorf.
Reid.
SEED, JEREMIAH.
Little is known of the life of this very clear headed and
learned divine, whose writings stand next perhaps to those
of Dr. Waterland in the controversies of the last century.
He was born at Clifton, near Penrith, in Cumberland,
and educated at Lowther, and at Queen's College,
Oxford, of which he was chosen fellow in 1732. The
greatest part of his life was spent at Twickenham, where
he was curate to Dr. Waterland. In 1741, he was
presented by his college to the living of Enham, in
Hampshire, where he died in 1747.
He published : — Discourses on several important
Subjects, 2 vols. 8vo ; his Posthumous Works, con-
sisting of Sermons, Letters, Essays, &c., in 2 vols. 8vo,
were published in 1750.
3 II
366 SHARP.
SERARIUS, NICHOLAS.
Nicholas Seraeius was born at Rambemlliers, in Lor-
raine, in 1555. He studied at Cologne, and there
became a Jesuit. He died at Mentz, in 1609. His
collected works were published in Mentz, in three tomes,
fol. Of these, the most esteemed w^ere : — Commentaries
on several Books of Scripture : Prolegomena on the
Holy Scriptures ; Trihseresium, seu de celeberrimis
tribus, apud Judaeos, Pharisaeorum, Sadducaeorum, et
Essenorum Sectis ; an edition of this work was pub-
lished at Delft, in 1703, with the addition of the trea-
tises of Drusius and Scalier, on the same subject ; De
rebus Moguntinis. — Gen. Biog. Diet.
SHARP, JAMES.
James Sharp was born in 1618, at Banff Castle, Banff-
shire, and was educated at King's College, Aberdeen.
In 1638, he fled from persecution and retired to Eng-
land, being expelled from his college for refusing to take
the Covenant. Although he was only twenty years of
age, his merit was such that he attracted the kindly
notice of such men as Saunderson, Hammond, and
Jeremy Taylor. He did not remain long in England,
but was driven back to his native air by severe indis-
position. Through the interest of the Earl of Rothes,
he was appointed to the chair of philosophy at St. Leo-
nard's College, in the University of St. Andrew's. He
resigned the professorship soon after, and retired to the
living of Crail.
Sharp was more of a politician than a divine, and
though he preferred episcopacy as a form of Church
government, and even avowed his predilection to Crom-
well, yet he did not consider it as a necessary or divine
SHAEP. 367
institution. There seems, therefore, to have been very
little inconsistency in his conduct either in holding office
under the Presbytery, or in being instrumental in the
re-establishment of episcopacy.
The Presbyterians were at this time divided into two
parties, the Remonstrators or Protestors, and the Resolu-
tioners. To account for the origin of the two parties
we must look back to the year 1688, when a General
Assembly, called by Charles I., became guilty of high
treason, and refused to rise when legally dissolved by
the king. This illegal assembly condemned the Liturgy
— Book of Canons — Book of Ordination — and the Court
of High Commission. It repealed all the acts of Assem-
bly for the preceding forty years ; condemned, deposed,
and excommunicated the bishops, as an Anti-christian
corruption; declared them infamous, and worse than
heathens and publicans. It refused to rise when dis-
solved by the king's commissioner ; but, indeed, all the
succeeding parliaments and assemblies both met and
enacted laws contrary to the royal authority. At that
period, the General Assembly exalted itself above the
crown and parliament, and actually repealed acts of
parliament. A new oath was invented, called the
Solemn, League and Covenant, and imposed, contrary
to all law, upon all men and women, and even children
were compelled to take it ; and such as refused were ex-
communicated. The consequence of excommunication in
Scotland, at that time, was the confiscation of all their
moveables, and that their persons were placed beyond
the protection of the laws. The lives of the bishops,
therefore, were now at the mercy of every man who might
lift their hands against them, to avoid which they fled
to England. Such was the unhappy posture of Charles's
affairs, that he found himself under the necessity of
ratifying their illegal acts of assembly, in the parliament
of 1641. By that mutilated and illegal parliament,
episcopacy was abolished, and the Presbyterian system
368 SHARP.
established. The Solemn League and Covenant was
sworn by the now dominant Presbyterians, and all men
forced to comply with it ; the object of which was to
" endeavour the extirpation of Popery, Prelacy, (that is
Church government by archbishops, bishops, their chan-
cellors and commissaries, deans, deans and chapters,
archdeacons, and all other ecclesiastical officers depend-
ing on that hierarchy,) superstition, heresy, schism, pro-
faneness and whatsoever shall be found contrary to
sound doctrine and the power of godliness." The con-
vention, or parliament, as it had been called, of 1641,
abolished patronages by an ordinance, which by the godly
was thought " worthy of being written in letters of gold."
It is a singular fact, that in the history of Presbytery,
whenever it reached a point when, in their own opinion,
it had neither spot nor wrinkle, it immediately began
to backslide. " After this," says Willison in his Testi-
mony, " a mournful scene opened, by the breaking divi-
sion that entered into the Church, which tended to stop
the progress of reformation work, and make way at
length for restoring Prelacy. This was occasioned by
some ensnaring questions put to the commission in
December, 1650, by the king, (Charles 11.) and parlia-
ment, (which they had better have declined to answer,)
concerning the admission of persons into places of public
trust, civil and military, who formerly had been opposers
of the Covenanted reformation, upon their making public
profession of their repentance ; those who were for ad-
mitting them being called Puhlic Resolutioners, and thos,e
against it being called Protestors.''
The Protestors or Remonstrators, were the violent and
fanatical Presbyterians attached to the Solemn League
and Covenant. The Resolutioners were the remains of
the Episcopal clergy, and were by far the greatest pro-
portion of the kingdom.
Sharp was a Resolutioner. He occupied so eminent
a place in his party that he represented them when
O
SHARP. 369
Cromwell was in Scotland, and sought to reconcile reli-
gious differences. He was consulted by Monck, who
seems to have relied much on his judgment when de-
signing to restore the king. He was sent to Breda, and
conferred with Charles the Second, and " in all his
transactions," says Guthrie, " he seems to have acted
with great prudence and frankness towards his consti-
tuents ; I can see no great ground for the violent charge
brought by Bishop Burnet against the former, for ingra-
titude and treachery towards his constituents ; — he fairly
tells Douglass that he would not appear for Presbytery
in any other way than within his own sphere."
He seems to have been desirous at first of establishing
the moderate Presbyterian system, to which he belonged
in Scotland. But he soon perceived that every thing
was tending towards the re-establishment of Episcopacy,
to which he had always inclined, without thinking it
essential. He writes from London : " From any obser-
vation I can make, I find the Preshijterian cause wholly
given up and lost. The influencing men of the Presby-
terian judgment are content wdth Episcopacy of Bishop
Usher's model, and a Liturgy somewhat corrected, with
the ceremonies of surplice, cross in baptism, kneeling at
communion, if they be not imposed by a canon, suh
poena aut culpa. And for the Assembly's Confession, I
am afraid they will yield it to be set to the door ; and
that the Articles of the Church of England, with some
amendments, take place. The moderate Episcopalians
and Presbyterians fear, that either the high Episcopal
men be uppermost, or that the Erastians carry it from
both. As for those they call rigid Presbyterians, there
are but few of them, and these only to be found in the
province of London and Lancashire, who will be incon-
siderable to the rest of the nation. A knowing minister
told me this day, that if a synod should be called by the
plurahty of incumbents, they would infallibly carry Epis-
copacy. There are many nominal, /eit; real Presbyterians.
370 SHARP
The cassock-men do swarm here ; and such who seemed
to be for Presbytery, would be content of a moderate
Episcopacy. We must leave this in the Lord's hands.
Who may be pleased to preserve to us what He hath
wrought for us. I see not what use I can be longer
here. I wish my neck were out of the collar. Some
of our countrymen go to the Common Prayer. All matters
are devolved into the hands of the king, in whose power
it is to do absolutely what he pleases, in Church and
state. His heart is in His hand, upon whom are our
eyes." In another letter of the same date, Mr. Sharp
says, '* I find our Presbyterian friends quite taken off
their feet, and what they talk of us and our help, is
merely for their own ends. They stick not to say, that
had it not been for the vehemency of the Scots, Messrs.
Henderson and Gillespie, &c., set forms had been con-
tinued ; and they tvere never against them. The king and
(Scottish) grandees are nholly for Episcopacy ; the Epis-
copal men are very high." — " The parliament when it
meets will make all void since 1639, and so the king
will be made king, (that is, absolute there ; in Scotland,
to wit, as here,) and dispose of places and offices as he
pleases."
Sharp acted according to the best of his judgment.
He had never been a Covenanter : he represented the
old episcopal clergy who had been ousted by the red
hot Presbyterians, and the more moderate of the Pres-
byterian party. He evidently supposed that in consenting
to the shadow of episcopacy to which he was called upon
to yield, he had the majority of his constituents with him,
and by the enthusiasm with which he was received when
he returned to Scotland, he had reason to believe that he
had judged correctly. Every thing was to remain the
same as under the Presbyterian system ; no liturgy; no
ceremonies ; no cross in baptism, no altars, no kneeling
at the Eucharist, no chancels were to be introduced : only
the chief pastor of each diocese was to be a consecrated
SHARP. 371
person. Well might the English Presbyterians exclaim,
" What would our brethren in Scotland be at ? What
would they have ?" The restoration of Episcopacy, says
Guthrie, was inevitable. In 1661, came forth the act
Rescissory by which were rescinded all the acts by the re-
bellious parliaments since 1633, and the Church was thus
virtually restored to what it was in 1612. The next step
was to restore the right of presentation to the patrons of
Scottish benefices, of which right they had been deprived
in 1649. And at last came forth the Proclamation from
Whitehall, declaring it to be the king's pleasure to restore
the government of the Church by archbishops and bishops
as it stood settled in 1637.
Sharp acted unwisely in accepting the j^rimacy under
such circumstances. The Covenanters were enraged
beyond endurance, and as they could not vent their rage
on the king, they singled out Sharp. These feelings were
expressed by the most malignant and profligate Covenanter
then in existence, the Earl of Lauderdale, who addressed
the following words to Sharp : — " Mr. Sharp, bishops you
are to have in Scotland ; and you are to be Archbishop
of St. Andrew's. But, whoever shall be the man, I will
smite him and his order, below the fifth rib." And well
did he make this flagitious saying good ! For when he
perceived that the restoration of bishops was inevitable,
his malignity found a resource in the resolution to make
Episcopacy hateful and intolerable. " My lord," he ex-
claimed with an oath, to the Earl of Glencairn, who
had expressed his anxiety for a limited, sober, and
moderate Episcopacy, — " My lord, since you are for
bishops, and must have them, bishops you shall have :
and higher than they ever were in Scotland : and that
you shall find." It is well known that he was faithful
to this threat. He succeeded, to his heart's content, in
making the cause he wished to ruin, utterly detestable,
by often labouring in its behalf with the merciless
ferocity of an inquisitor.
372 SHARP.
That the view we have taken of Sharp's principles are
correct, namely, that he regarded Episcopacy as expe-
dient, but not essential to the validity of holy orders,
appears from what took place in the preliminaries to
the consecration of himself and three other Scottish
clergymen. Kirkton says, " first, there was a question
to be answered, and that was, whether they were to be
re-ordained presbyters, yea, or no ? Sharp desired they
might be excused, and that their Presbyterian ordina-
might be sustained. Episcopal they could not have;
and the former English bishops had sustained Spottis-
wood's Presbyterian ordination in the year 1610; but
Sheldon was peremptory — either they must renounce
their old Presbyterian ordination, or miss their expected
Episcopal coronation ; so they were cont€nt rather to
deny themselves to be presbyters, than not to be re-
ceived bishops ; and when they consented, Sheldon told
Sharp that it was the Scottish fashion to scruple at every
thing, and swallow any thing. But with a great pro-
cess of change of vestments, offices, prayers, bowing to
the altar, and kneeling at the communion, they were
re-ordained presbyters, and consecrated bishops both in
one day, and this was a preface to a fat Episcopal ban-
quet, and so their work ended. This was done Decenii-
ber, 1661."
Wodrow, in the printed history, gives the same account
in nearly the same words ; but in his *' Analecta," he
relates a hearsay story, as follows :—" January, 1707.
This day, Mr. James Webster told that his author had
this account from Bishop Hamilton; that after the
Restoration, Sharp, Leighton, Hamilton, and Fairfowl,
four of them, were at London ; and that there were
only two of them that were re-ordained, that were Sharp
and Leighton : that when Sharp got the gift of the
Archbishopric of St. Andrews from the king, he came
to Juxon, Bishop of London, with the orders ; and who
says that is very good, but Mr. Sharp, where are your
SHARP. 373
orders? You must be re-ordained presbyter, before you
can be consecrated bishop. He said he behoved to con-
sult with his brethren, and returned and told them that
they behoved to be re-ordained. Mr. Hamilton and the
others said, that they were ordained before the thirty-
eight, by bishops. Mr. Leighton said, J will yield,
(although) I am persuaded I was in orders before, and
my ministrations were valid, and that they do it cumu-
lative, and not privative ; and although I should be
ordained every year, I will submit."
The reception of the new prelates in Scotland was
enthusiastic. On the 6th of April, the primate and
the other bishops arrived at Berwick-on-Tweed. Many
of the nobility, gentry, and ministers went from Edin-
burgh as far as Cockburn's-path, a hamlet about eight
miles beyond Dunbar, to meet and escort them into
the capital. A vast multitude of inferior note met
them at Musselburgh, whence they were conducted
into Edinburgh, in triumph ; " and with all reverence
and respect received and embraced them, in great pomp
and grandeur, with sound of trumpet and all other
curtesies requisite. This done on Tuesday, the 8th of
April, 1662." This is corroborated by Wodrow ; but
he adds, " which was not a little pleasing to Sharp's
ambitious temper." There is no doubt it would be
pleasing not only to him, but to all those who wished
for the peace of their country, or that the wounds of
the Church should be healed. It is pleasing, even at
this day, when the Covenanting fire is smouldering in
its ashes, to see with what unanimity so good a work
was received by " the generality of the new upstart
generation; who had no love to Presbyterial govern-
ment ; feeding themselves with the fancy of Episcopacy."
Let the Covenanters say what they will, this demonstra-
tions is a decided proof of " the inclinations of the
people." It is an incontrovertible fact, and recorded too
by Wodrow, that "the generality of the people were
VOL. VIIl. K K
374 SHARP.
wearied" of the Presbyterial yoke, and none but the
bigoted Covenanters were opposed to the Episcopal
government.
Soon after his arrival at the Scottish metropolis, the
primate consecrated other bishops to the vacant sees.
Kirkton, followed by Wodrow, indulges his maUce in
giving the blackest character to all these fathers of the
Church, but especially to Dr. Sharp. Their satanic
malice, and indeed that of the whole Covenanters,
defeats itself, and even brings a direct reproach upon
their own beloved discipline. If the bishops were such
monsters of wickedness as they represent them to have
been, why did the Kirk, in its state of Philadelphian
purity, suffer them to exercise their ministry without
rebuke ? Why suffer them to disgrace the Presbyterian
discipline, which Kirkton informs us was so severe, and
so inquisitorial, that even a poor peasant could not
escape its searching strictness, far less its ministry?
We leave these questions to be answered by those who
believe and continue the malicious misrepresentations
of those persecutors of the true Church. Had they
really been such immoral men, under such an inquisi-
torial discipline, it would have been next to impossible
to have concealed their immorality, even although Kirk-
ton admits, that their tyranical discipline made hypocrisy
the besetting sin of the age. It says very little for the
severe morality to which the Presbyterian discipline is
said to be so favourable, to wink at such alleged wicked-
ness in their ministers. Had these men, however,
remained in their obscurity of parish ministers ; but
more particularly, had they adopted the Presbyterian
discipline, the world would have been unedified by the
malicious libels of Kirkton and Wodrow. It is certain,
there never was the slightest accusation of immorality
against them till after their promotion to the order of
bishops. The Covenanting historians, and who have
been but too thoughtlessly copied by more reputable
SHARP. 375
names, have heaped the most atrocious falsehoods on
the Scottish bishops ; accusations which a small degree
of reflection would show were the suggestions of malice
and envy alone. The bishops were chosen out of the.
party known by the name of public Resolutioners, towards
whom the Covenanters entertained the most fiendish
hatred.
None, however, suffered so much, nor more unjustly,
than Archbishop Sharp. It seems to have been a chief
and paramount object with his enemies, to fix on him
the guilt of necromancy, and for which purpose the most
absurd and improbable falsehoods have been gravely
recorded as materials for future history. Such " weak
inventions of the enemy" would only excite contempt,
as being the childish gossip of ignorant and silly men,
envious of his superior abilities and station, were it not
for the deep and fiendish malice which lurks under
them. The atrocious libels which the chief historian
of that period has put into circulation, and which have
been thoughtlessly and maliciously repeated without
inquiry, are recorded upon no better authority than mere
hearsay. The object is apparent, and hitherto has been
eminently successful ; for not content with taking his
life in a most barbarous manner, they have never ceased
to murder his character, so that he has been a double
martyr — in deed and in reputation. Good men in all
ages have been the butt of the wicked ; but none were
ever so maligned and insulted whilst living, nor their
memories so persecuted when dead, and some of them
even murdered, as these fathers of the Church, but
especially the archbishop. The persecution, whether
active or passive, to which the true Church has ever
been subjected by heretics and schismatics, may consti-
tute one of its marks. The Church in England was
crushed beneath the upper millstone of Popish Jesuits,
and the nether millstone of the Puritans ; and the
Church in Scotland was annihilated by the united fero-
376 SHARP.
city and intolerance of the Covenanters and Popish
emissaries, at the grand rebeUion. It has been all along
the tactics of all these parties to persecute the Church,
but especially the Church in Scotland, by the continued
circulation of the most enormously wicked and inconsis-
tent falsehoods on the memories of the first prelates of
that branch of the Church Catholic.
Of the persecutions to which the Covenanters were
subjected by the civil power we have only to speak with
abhorrence, and with the greater abhorrence when we
know that the profligate instigator of these was himself
of the same way of thinking with those he persecuted,
and desired to make Episcopacy stink in the nostrils of
the people. But for these atrocities Sharp is not respon-
sible, and it is to be recollected that the principles of
the Covenanters were principles as much opposed to the
laws of common humanity as to the laws of God, They
thirsted for the blood of these victims, and many felt
that if they were not repressed they would be themselves
destroyed. The principles of the Covenanters and Pres-
byterians of that age are sufficiently exemplified by the
concluding events of Sharp's life.
In the year 1668, when the primate was in Edinburgh,
and engaged " in distributing alms to the poor in the
street," says the author of the " True and Impartial
Account," he was shot at by a fanatical preacher of the
name of Mitchell, who had been out with the armed
insurrection two years before : " a youth," says Wodrow,
" of much piety and zeal " ! The ball missed Sharp,
but wounded Honyman, Bishop of Orkney, who hap-
pened to be beside him, and who died of the w^ound
a few years after. Here, again, Wodrow remarks, that
"people could not help observing the righteousness of
Providence in disabling Bishop Honyman," because, it
seems, in former times he had written in favour of Pres-
byterianism ! The assassin made his escape through
the crowd; but not before his features were distinctly
SHARP. 377
seen by the primate. In order to escape from justice,
he went to Holland, where he remained five j^ears, from
whence he returned with a resolution to make a second
attempt on the object of his hatred. Accordingly, he
came with his wife to Edinburgh, and hired a small
shop within a few doors of Sharp's lodgings, where he
sold tobacco and groceries. One day soon after, the
primate being accidentally in Edinburgh, perceived this
very man eyeing him with a malignant scowl, as if
watching for an opportunity of doing him some mischief.
He had him instantly arrested ; and two loaded pistols,
with three balls each, being found upon him, he was
brought before a committee of the privy council, who,
it is alleged, promised him his life if he would confess
that he was the person who had attempted to shoot the
primate on the former occasion. On this point, however,
the accounts are conflicting. One asserts that Sharp
only promised to intercede for him, on the condition of
his confessing. Burnet (who disliked Sharp personally,
and admits that he received his account from one of
his enemies) says that he swore to Mitchell with uplifted
hands, that if he would confess, no harm whatever should
happen to him. The criminal, it would appear, made
the required confession; after which he was taken for
trial before the Lords of Justiciary, the appointed judges
in all criminal cases. Some one had hinted to him, in
the meantime, that he ought not to confess anything ;
because, though he might get his life, he would pro-
bably lose his hand, and be imprisoned for the remainder
of his days. Being called upon by the court to say
whether he were guilty or not, he pleaded not guilty,
and obstinately refused to repeat his former confession,
though informed that his life could not be granted to
him on any other condition. As therefore he withdrew
his confession, the council considered themselves justi-
fied in withdrawing their conditional promise of pardon ;
and in the meantime, till he should think better of it,
3 KK
378 SHARP.
lie was sent to the tolbooth, where he was imprisoned two
years. At the end of that period, he was again brought
before the council, and had the cruel torture of the
boots applied to one of his legs, but without producing
the required confession. Next, he was remanded to the
Bass rock, where he was kept another two years, after
which his trial was resumed, according to Laing, " at
the instigation of Sharp." The evidence against him
was conclusive ; and was so far from being contradicted,
even by himself, that when asked by Lord Halton why
he had done so execrable an act, he answered, " Because
the archbishop was an enemy to the godly people in the
west." His trial lasted four days ; at the end of which,
being found guilty by the unanimous vote of a jury con-
sisting of fifteen gentlemen, he was condemned and
executed. In his last words, he declared openly that
he laid down his life in opposition to the perfidious
prelates, and in testimony to the cause of Christ : and
blessed God that He had thought him worthy of so
doing.
The foregoing are the simple facts of the case, so far
as they are known, as we find them briefly detailed
by Mr. Lyons, in his History of St. Andrews, and it must
rest with the reader to judge whether Sharp is deserving
of the odium with which his memory has been loaded
for the part he took in the transaction.
After an administration of eighteen years, Sharp, as
is well known, was cruelly murdered by a party of ruffians
to whom he had made himself obnoxious. Their con-
spiracy against him arose out of a quarrel which he had
with one Haxton of Rathillet, and his brother-in-law,
Balfour of Kinloch, about some money due to him, which
they resisted, while he took legal means to compel pay-
meut. This so exasperated them, that they engaged a
party of seven Covenanters who were too happy to wreak
their vengeance on the primate on religious grounds.
With their help, they way-laid him on Magus Muir,
SHARP. 379
near St. Andrews, as he was travelling home in his
coach from Edinburgh, accompanied by his eldest
daughter. But here we will allow his biographer to
describe what occurred on his part immediatety previous
to the murder : — " Upon Friday, May 2nd, he deter-
mined to take a journey to St. Andrews, with a design
to return upon Monday to Edinburgh, and thence to
begin his journey for court. On Friday evening he
reached Kennoway, where he lodged that night ; in which,
and next morning, he was observed to have eaten or
drunk very little, but was known to have been very
fervent and longer than ordinary in his devotions ; as
if God, out of His great mercy, had thereby prepared
him for what he was to meet with from the worst of men.
His religious behaviour was so much taken notice of that
morning by the pious and learned Dr. Monro, (who had
come to wait on him,) that he said he believed he was
inspired. So, on Saturday, May 3rd, he entered his
coach with his daughter Isabel, and went on his journey.
All the way he entertained her with religious discourses,
particularly of the vanity of life, the certainty of death
and judgment, of the necessity of faith, good works, and
repentance, and daily growth in grace," &c. The cir-
cumstances of his murder have often been described.
Let it suffice to say here, that the assassins, after making
themselves masters of the servants and horses, dragged
the unfortunate prelate out of his coach, and despatched
him with many wounds. Instead of trying to escape,
they retired to a neighbouring cottage, where they devoted
several hours to prayer. They felt no fear or compunction,
but thanked God that he had enabled them to accomplish
this glorious work, and asked strength that they might,
if necessary, seal it with their blood ! Danziel, one of
the fanatics, declared that, in answer to this prayer, he
heard a voice from heaven saying, " Well done, good and
faithful servants."
The murder of the archbishop was received with a
380 SHARP.
savage yell of exultation throughout all the regions of
remonstrant Presbyterianism, which of itself shewed
how abhorrent their principles were from the spirit of
the Gospel. Their malignity has defeated itself in the
portraiture they have undertaken to draw of their victim.
They have represented him, not only as a traitor and a
persecutor, but as a wretch, stained with the most abomi-
nable crimes, — with infanticide, adultery, and incest.
And, in order to deepen the horrors of the picture, they
have not scrupled to affirm, that he was in a dark con-
federacy with the evil potentate ! It is seriously related
by Wodrow that, on one occasion, the archbishop de-
spatched his footmen to St, Andrews, for a paper ; and
that, when the man arrived at St. Andrews, after a hasty
journey, to his terror and astonishment, he found his
grace there, quietly sitting at his table, with his black
gown and tippet, and his broad hat, just as he had left
him at Edinburgh. Another story is, that one Janet
Douglas, when summoned before the council, on a charge
of sorcery, declared that she knew who were witches,
but was no witch herself. Being threatened with the
plantations, she turned to the primate, and said, " My
lord, who was with you, in your closet, on Saturday night
last, between twelve and one o'clock ?" And, when after-
wards privately questioned by Lord Rothes, she declared
that his grace's nocturnal visitor was no other than the
muckle black deevil himself. It was, moreover, asserted
that "he bore a charmed life," or, at least, a s/io^proof
body, upon which leaden bullets could work no further
mischief than to leave black or blue marks behind them !
And, all this trash is propounded with just as much
confidence and gravity, as if it were a narrative of the
best authenticated facts ! It would be cruel to hang a
dog on the sole testimony of such witnesses.
On the other side of the picture, it is undeniable
that in his personal habits of life he was blameless ; we
have not grounds for doubting that his religion was
SHARP, JOHN. 38]
sincere, and it is beyond question that he was charitable
to the poor. Neither can it be disputed that he was
capable of kind and generous offices towards men who
w^ere anything but his well-wishers. By his intercession
with the king he saved the lives of two traitors, Simpson
and Gillespie; and he made a similar attempt, though
without success, in favour of a third, the notorious
Guthrie, author of the treasonable pamphlet entitled,
" The Causes of God's Wrath," &c. These facts were
known to Wodrow ; but were scandalously suppressed
by ^im in his calumnious History. His commission
was " to aggravate the crimes," and not to blazon the
virtues of the royal clergy. — Stephens. Lyons History of
St. Andrews.
SHABP, JOHN.
John Shabp was born at Bradford, now one of the first
towns in Yorkshire, but at that time little more than
a village, on the 16th of February, 1644, his father being
an eminent tradesman. In 1660, he went to Cambridge,
and in 1667, he was ordained on the same day deacon
and priest at St. Margaret's, Westminster, by Dr. Fuller,
Bishop of Limerick, and he became domestic chaplain
to Sir Heneage Finch, then attorney-general.
In 1672, he was made Archdeacon of Berkshire, aod
in 1676, Prebendary of Norwich, next Eector of St.
Bartholomew, near the Exchange, and afterwards of
St. Giles'-in-the-Fields, London. In 1679, he took his
degree of D.D., and became lecturer of St. Lawrence,
Jewry. In 1681, he was made Dean of Norwich, by the
interest of his friend Finch, at that time lord-chancellor.
As a parish priest and as a preacher, he was exem-
plary and laborious. But with the exception of a con-
troversy with Dissenters, occasioned by a sermon he had
preached before the lord-mayor, in 1674, he did not
382 SHARP, JOHN.
come prominently before the public until the reign of
James II.
Dr. Sharp, in 1686, having preached in his own
church a sermon against Popery, as he descended from
the pulpit a paper was put into his hand, containing
an argument for the right of the Church of Rome to
the title of the only visible Catholic Church. This he
answered from his pulpit on the next Sunday ; which
circumstance being represented at court as an attempt
to produce jealousy and disaffection to his majesty's
government, and an infraction of his order concerning
preachers, the king was greatly incensed, and in the
June following, sent a mandate to Dr. Compton, Bishop
of London, for the suspension of Dr. Sharp from preach-
ing in any church or chapel in his diocese, till he had
given satisfaction for his offence. The bishop sent for
the doctor, and informed him of the royal displeasure,
who replied, that he had never been called upon to
answer for the matter, or to make his defence, and that
he was ready to give full satisfaction. The bishop there-
upon wrote to Lord Sunderland, stating the impossibility
of his complying with the king's command, since he
must act in the case as judge, and could not condemn a
man without knowledge of the cause, and citing the
accused party. He, however, advised Dr. Sharp to
intermit the exercise of his function, and for the present,
to go down to the Deanery at Norwich. With this
advice he complied, and employed his leisure in forming
a cabinet of coins, chiefly British, Saxon, and English.
At length he presented a very humble petition to the
king, in consequence of which he was permitted to
return to his duty in the metropolis ! and there is no
doubt that, according to his promise, he was careful to
give no farther offence from the pulpit. When, however,
in 1688, the archdeacons were summoned to appear
before the ecclesiastical commissioners for disobeying the
king's orders about the declaration, he concurred with
SHARP, JOHN. 383
his brethren in declining to appear, and drew up the
reasons for their refusal. Still true to the loyal prin-
ciples of his Church, when he preached, first before the
Prince of Orange, and then before the convention, he
prayed before sermon for King James ; on the second of
these occasions, the house of commons having now voted
that the king had abdicated, he gave much offence by his
prayer, and also by some passages in his sermon, that
after a long debate, the house broke up without voting
him the usual thanks ; but this was done afterwards.
He had no doubt as to the necessity of the revolution,
but he had a deep sense of duty, and we may therefore
suppose that at this time he did not consider all hope
of an accommodation with James to be at an end.
It was with the same propriety of feeling, that while
he accepted from William the Deanery of Canterbury,
in 1689, he refused and adhered to his refusal, to accept
any of the bishoprics vacant by the ousting of the non-
juring bishops. He risked the loss of William's favour
in doing so, but he felt the claims of private friendship,
he honoured the high though, as he thought, the mis-
taken principle of the non-jurors, and he may have
doubted of the lawfulness of the process by which they
were deprived. But on the death of Lamplugh in 1691,
he accepted the Diocese of York. As Archbishop of
York, his conduct was as exemplary as it had been as
a parish priest. He sympathised with his clergy ; he
could understand their difficulties, and acted as their
adviser and friend. He bestowed all the canonries of
his church upon the clergy of his diocese : he was
indefatigable in preaching himself, and lost no oppor-
tunity of hearing his clergy preach that so he might
judge of their powers in the pulpit. His cathedral
to which he resorted three times a week, (viz., on the
Litany days,) for several years after he came to the see,
though he lived two miles out of the city, served him
well for this purpose. For in that church, besides the
384 SHARP, JOHN.
preaching courses, distributed among t"he prebendaries
and archdeacons, on all the Sundays and holidays in
the year, there are sermons likewise on every Wed-
nesday and Friday in Advent and Lent. So that during
those seasons at least, he had an opportunity of hearing
three sermons a-week from different hands. But as all
these turns in the Minster were chiefly supplied by the
members of it, the prebendaries or vicars-choral, that
he might also exercise and know the talents of the
city clergy, and those of the neighbouring parishes, he
set up an evening lecture, to be preached on every
Friday, at All Saint's Church, in the Pavement.
He was particularly careful to do all the good he
could, by giving advice to the younger clergy, especially
at ordinations and visitations. The first he held regu-
larly at all the stated times, when he was in his diocese.
And as it was a business of the greatest weight and
consequence that appertained to his office, he used the
properest means to qualify himself for the discharge of
it. He usually repaired privately to his chapel to beg
God's presence with him, and blessing upon him, or,
to use his own expression, to implore the guidance of
His Spirit in that work. He measured candidates for
orders, more by their modesty and good sense, and the
testimonials of their virtue, than by their learning. To
have a right notion of the main doctrines of religion,
to understand thoroughly the terms of the new covenant,
both on God's part and on man's ; and to know the
reasons, and apprehend the force of those distinctions
upon which the Church of England explained and stated
those terms differently from the Church of Rome, and
other communions separating from her, were with him,
the chief qualifications for the ministry in regard to
learning.
When consulted about the Societies for the Reformation
of Manners which were established in various parts of
the country about the year 1697, he declined associating
SHARP, JOHN. 385
with dissenters for sucli objects, thougli his liberality
towards them, not to their principles, was well known.
And referring to one of these societies instituted at Carlisle
he observes, " I must confess if a society was entered
into at York upon these articles, I should neither give
the members of it any disturbance nor any discourage-
ment. I should only wish that those of the clergy who
joined in it would add an article or two more, w^hereby
they should more particularly oblige themselves to the
reading of prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and
holidays, or in populous towns every day, unless they
w^ere hindered by some urgent business. Secondly, to
the holding monthly communions in their parishes,
and lastly to the diligent attendance upon catechising
and instructing the youth of their parishes in the
principles of Christianity. The practice of which things
will in my poor opinion, more contribute to the pro-
moting a reformation, than the informing against crimi-
nals, though that is a good work too."
Whenever he was consulted by the clergy about their
parochial concerns, he immediately answered their
queries, and clearly and positively determined them.
In all his letters of this kind, which are left, there is
but one in which he is something doubtful what to
resolve ; but even there he leaves no doubt or difJBculty
upon the clergyman who consulted him, by permitting,
or rather advising him to follow his own first deter-
mination. The case not being very common, about the
marriage of a person with a quaker, according to the
usage of the Church, the letter itself will not be dis=
agreeable : —
"November 30, 1700.
" Sir, — The case which you propose hath some diffi-
culty in it, since our present canons say nothing about
it. The old canons, indeed, are express against any
person being married, who was not first baptized. But
then in those times marriage was accounted a sacrament,
VOL. VIII. L L
386 SHARP, JOHN.
and baptism was janua sacramentorum. On the other
side, though marriage be no sacrament, but all men
and women have a natural right to it, yet whether
any who are not initiated in Christianity, ought to have
the solemn benediction of the Church (as it is upon that
account that the clergy have anything to do with mar-
riage,) is a thing fit to be considered. Add to this, that
there is something in the Church office which supposeth
that both the married persons are baptized. For, ac-
cording to the Rubric, it is " convenient that they re-
ceive the holy communion together at the first oppor-
tunity that presents itself." And therefore they must
be in a condition of receiving it, which unbaptized
persons are not.
•' Pray ask yourself what you would do in case a per-
son excommunicated should desire you to marry him.
Methinks the case is much the same.
"I do think, upon the whole, it is not advisable to
depart from your first resolution, unless the party will
be first baptized, which I am not against your doing as
privately as may be.
" I am, &c., Jo. Eboe."
His care for the Church extended far, and when he
was emploj^ed in 1703, in preparing measures to be
laid before the Convocation, he wished to add a proposal
concerning bishops being provided for the plantations.
"When the Occasional Conformity bill was introduced,
there was one point which he laboured to carry, and
that was to indemnify parish ministers for observing
the Rubric, from all such damages as by the Test Act
they might stand liable to, for refusing to give the sacra-
ment in any instance wherein the rubric directed repul-
sion from it. In the debates, December 4, 1702, upon
this bill, his grace applied himself to this point alone.
" I made a speech, (says he,) against the clause that was
then brought in to oblige all officers to receive the sacra-
SHARP, JOHN. S8T
ment four times a year, unless a clause might be brought
in to indemnify parish ministers for repelling such from
the communion, as by the rubric they are empowed to
do." This was rather securing to the clergy their rights,
than opposing the dissenters in the favour they desired.
He thought the consciences of the parochial clergy doing
their duty in the administration of the sacraments, were
as much to be considered, and to be as tenderly treated
as the consciences of those who could occasionally con-
form. And that it was hard the dissenters should be
allowed to act inconsistently, in order to obtain the
benefits of the law ; while the Church ministers, for
acting consistently, and according to rule, incurred the
penalties of the law ; that is, were liable to the damages
which any man sustained by being rejected by them
from the communion. There were also several others
who voted with him for the bills against occasional con-
formity, who yet were never thought unfavourable to the
dissenters.
In the attempt to introduce the Church system into
Prussia, Archbishop Sharp took a deep interest which in
some degree compensated for the culpable neglect of the
then Archbishop of Canterbury. Indeed, in every thing
relating to the Church at large. Archbishop Sharp shewed
his zeal. To the distressed Greek Churches in America
he was a liberal benefactor, and received with hospitality
Arsenius, Archbishishop of Thebais, when he came to
England in 1713. But the proceedings with respect to
Prussia are of more immediate interest.
The Protestant subjects of the kingdom of Prussia
consist partly of Lutherans, and partly of Calvinists;
which latter call themselves the Reformed; the word,
Calvinist being disagreeable to them, and consequently
used only by such as are not their friends.
Frederick, King of Prussia, had found it necessary,
for the greater solemnity of his coronation, in 1700,
to give the title of bishops to two of the chief of his
388 SHARP, JOHN.
clergy, the one a Lutheran, the other a Reformed. The
former died soon after; whereupon the other, viz. Dr.
Ursinus, continued without a colleague, and with the
title of bishop. Since that time the king, who was a
lover of order and decency, conceived a design of uniting
the two different communions in his kingdom, the
Lutherans and the Reformed, in one public form of
worship. And as he had a great respect for the English
nation and Church, and held a good opinion of the
Liturgy of the Church of England, he thought that
might be the most proper medium wherein both parties
might meet. The person who, above all others, was
instrumental in creating in the king a favourable opinion
of the discipline and Liturgy of the English Church,
and in improving his good dispositions to establish
them in his own realm, was Dr. Daniel Ernestus Jab-
louski, a man of great credit and worth, first chaplain
to the King of Prussia, and superintendent or senior
of the Protestant Church in Poland. This gentleman
had received very great prejudices in his youth against
the Church of England, from those among whom he
was educated. But after he had been twice in Eng-
land, and had spent some time in Oxford, and in the
conversation of our English divines, and in the study
of our Liturgy and Church discipline, he became not
only reconciled to them, but an admirer of our ecclesi-
astical constitution ; and took all opportunities ever
after, of expressing his friendship and zeal for the
English Liturgy and ceremonies.
Dr. Ursinus was likewise very well inclined to a con-
formity in worship and discipline to that of the Church
of England; but if he did not prosecute the design
with a warmth and zeal equal to Jablouski's, it may be
imputed to his never having seen the Church of Eng-
land in her own beauties and proper dress as the other
had.
By the advice principally of these two, the king
SHARP, JOHN. dm
ordered the English Liturgy to be translated into high
Dutch, which was done at his University of Frankfort-
upon-the-Oder, where the professors in general were
friends to the Church of England. This done, he
ordered his bishop Dr. Ursinus, to write a letter in his
name to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to acquaint
him with what had been, and with what was intended
to be done ; and to ask his grace's advice about it. The
scheme was, if the king's intentions met with due re-
ception and encouragement from England, which it was
presumed could not fail, to have introduced the Liturgy
first into the king's own chapel, and the cathedral
church; and to leave it free for the other churches to
follow the example ; and the time prefixed for this
introduction was the first Sunday in Advent, 1706. It
was indeed debated in the king's consistory (called so
because a privy counsellor always sits with, yet presides
over the divines,) whether the English Liturgy should
be used, or a new one composed in imitation of it,
several objecting, that they should seem to acknow-
ledge a dependance on the Church of England, by
wholly using her service ; upon which some divines,
who were not willing the design should miscarry, drew
up a formulary, which was put in manuscript into the
hands of the king's bishop.
A letter was written by Dr. Ursinus to his Grace of
Canterbury, pursuant to the king's directions. And
two copies of the high Dutch version of the English
Liturgy were sent along with it; one for her majesty
the queen, the other for his grace. And orders were
given to form a correspondence between the principal
of the clergy of both courts, about the means of pro-
moting the design. The letter and the copies were
put into the hands either of Baron Spanheim, or M.
Bonet, the king's ministers. Her majesty, upon the
receipt of her copy, ordered my Lord Raby, her minister
at the Court of Prussia, to return her thanks to the
L l3
390 SHARP, JOHN.
king and to the bishop which was done. But it unfor-
tunately happened, that the other copy, and the letter,
which were designed for the Archbishop of Canterbury,
by some neglect or mistake, were not delivered to him ;
and the more unfortunate because they were assured at
Berlin, that they had been delivered to him by Mr.
Knyster, a subject of the King of Prussia, then in
England. This occasioned some disgust ; and the king
having often asked Dr. Ursinus, what answer the arch-
bishop had given to his letter, greatly wondered, when
the bishop, after some time, continued to rej)ly, that
as yet none had been sent. And it was thought, that
this misfortune (but looked upon in Prussia rather as
a neglect in the Archbishop of Canterbury,) was one of
the chief occasions which made the king grow cool in
the design.
Notwithstanding the sinful supineness of the Whig
Archbishop of Canterbury, the proposal was well received
by the clergy of England, as w^e may learn from a des-
patch to the King of Prussia by his minister, M. Bonet,
giving an account of an interview he had had with the
English secretary of state. After having spoken of the
Service of the Church of England, as " the most proper
that is among Protestants," he addresses himself to
other considerations. " The j&rst is, that a conformity
between the Prussian Churches and the Church of
England would be received with great joy here. The
second is, that the conformity to be wished for beyond
the sea relates more to Church government than to any
change in the Pdtual or Liturgy. The clergy here are
for Episcopacy, and look upon it, at least, as of apos-
tolical institution, and are possessed with the opinion,
that it has continued in an uninterrupted succession
from the Apostles to this present time ; and upon this
supposition, they allege there can be no true ecclesias-
tical government but under bishops of this order ; nor
true ministers of the Gospel, but such as have been
SHARP, JOHN. 391
ordained by bishops ; and if there be others that do not
go so far, yet they all make a great difference between
the ministers that have received imposition of hands
by bishops, and those that have been ordained by a
synod of presbyters. A third consideration is, that the
Church of England would look upon a conformity of
this nature as a great advantage to herself, and that the
clergy, united to the Court and the Tories, are a very
considerable and powerful body. On the other side,
the Whigs, the Presbyterians, the Independants, and
all the other non-conformists would look upon this con-
formity with great concern as weakening and disarming
their party. And the electoral House of Brunswick,
which depends more upon the latter than the former,
may fear lest this conformity should have other conse-
quences. But though the Whigs have more money,
because they are more concerned in trade, and though
their chiefs may have the reputation at present of a
superior genius, yet the others have more zeal and con-
stant superiority and interest,
" Ut in ratione humillima, &c."
It was, perhaps, the jealousy of the Whigs and the
fear of the Hanoverians lest they should offend the Dis-
senters, which prevented this noble scheme from being
accomplished. Archbishop Sharp, however, endeavoured
to further it to the day of his death, and continued his
correspondence with his Prussian friends. Much im-
portant information is given on this subject in the
Appendix to Sharp's Life of Sharp.
In the same work, from which this article is taken, we
find a beautiful and affecting specimen of the archbishop's
private devotions, taken from his Diary. When he
resided at London, he constantly attended the early sacra-
ments, (for the most part at Whitehall), that he might be
at liberty to preach afterwards in the Parish Chnrch, or
392 SHARP, JOHN.
attend the Queen's Chapel, whither he generally resorted
for the morning service, when he had not engaged to sup-
ply any pulpit in town. The afternoon service he had in
his own family. In short, he made it his serious endea-
vour, as he often remarks, "' to spend the whole Lord's
day in the best manner he could to the glory of God, and
the good of his own soul."
Thursday was the other day of the week that he appro-
priated to thanksgivings ; and these were usually his
acknowledgments to God of his " great temporal mercies
and blessings vouchsafed to his country, his family and
to himself, in that he and all who belonged to him,
lived in health, peace, and safety; joined with earnest
petitions, that God for His mercies' sake, would have
him and his always in protection." In the summer
time, when he resided at Bishopsthorp, and when the
weather was fair, he usually offered these thanksgivings
sub dio, either in his garden or in the adjoining fields and
meadows, whither he frequently walked to perform his
devotions. The parish Church of Acaster is within a
little mile of the Archbishop's Palace. It stands by
itself in the fields. Thither he frequently retired alone
and made the little porch of that church his oratory,
where he solemnly addressed and praised God. And
here it was that for some years he resorted, as he had
opportunity, to perform his Thursday thanksgivings;
afterwards he removed from this place to another which
was more pleasant, and more commodious too, as being
nearer his house ; and this was a shed or little summer
house, placed under a shade on the side of a fish-pond
which stood north of his house and gardens. Hither
he frequently retired for prayer, but most generally on
Thursday. Afterwards, when the plantations that he
had made in his garden, were grow^n up to some per-
fection he again changed the scene of his thanksgivings
and offered them up in a particular walk, which from
thence he called his Temple of Praise. It is a close
SHARP, JOHN. 303
grass-plot walk, lying north and south, and hedged on
each side with yew, so thick and high, as to be com-
pletely shaded at all times of the day, except noon.
On the east it hath a little maze or wilderness, that
grows considerably higher. The entrance into it at
each end is through arches made in a lime hedge, and
the view through these arches immediately bounded by
a hedge of horn-beam at one end, and a fruit wall at
the other. So that from within the walk, scarce any
thing is to be seen but verdure and the open sky above.
In this close walk, and in the adjoining maze, ( for pro-
bably he adopted both at the same time for his Temple of
Praise,) he spent many a happy hour, especially in the
last years of his life. Here was a privacy that answered
his design, and a solemnity that suited his taste ; and here
he poured out his soul in prayers and thanksgivings, and
had such delightful intercourses with God, as would affect
him to a very great degree. Thus, for instance, he notes,
in the year 1712 : — " After evening prayers, I walked in
my garden, and there, in my Temple of Praise, poured
out my soul to God in an unusual ardent manner; so
that I think I was never so rapturously devout in my
life." This passage is brought to shew what use he
made of that place, and not what effect the place had
upon him. For indeed at this time of life, he had
attained to such a habit of raising his affections, beyond
what he had been formerly able to do, that, upon several
occasions, he wrought himself into ardours which he
had not felt in so great a degree before. Thus for
instance, in the same summer: — " I never was in such
transports of devotion hardly as I was when I came
home from the Minster, being alone in the coach. I
never prayed more heartily and devoutly in my life.
And I hope God will hear my prayers which I put up
for grace and mercy, with tears."
He did not neglect general literature or the patronage
of hterary men, Mr. Speaker Onslow, in a note to
394 SHELDON.
Burnet's History of his own Times, says of Archbishop
Sharp, " He was a great reader of Shakspeare. Dr.
Mangaj, who had married his daughter, told me that he
used to recommend to young divines the reading of the
Scriptures and Shakspeare. And Dr. Lisle, Bishop of
Norwich, who had been chaplain at Lambeth to Arch-
bishop Wake, told me that it was often related there, that
Sharp should say, that the Bible and Shakspeare made
him Archbishop of York."
In every relation of life, he seemed to excel, and was
beloved by all who approached him, although he was
very plain spoken, and remonstrated without fear, but
with gentleness with the highest personages, not only in
his own diocese, but in London when he found them
transgressing, and felt himself responsible.
He died at Bath, in 1714, and was buried in York
Cathedral, where an inscription by Dr. Smalridge records
his merits. His Sermons, in 7 vols. 8vo, have been
published since his death, and are deservedly popular. —
Le Neve. Sharps Life of Sharp.
SHELDON, GILBEET.
This munificent prelate was born at Stanton, in Staf-
fordshire, in the year 1598, and was educated at Trinity
College, Oxford, where he took his B.A. degree in 1617.
In 1622, he was elected fellow of New College, and soon
after became chaplain to the lord-keeper, Coventry,
by whom he was presented to a stall in Gloucester
Cathedral. In 1633, he became Vicar of Hackney,
having previously held the Rectory of Ickford, in Buck-
inghamshire. In 1634, he took his D.D. degree, and in
March, 1635, was elected warden of All Souls. About the
same time, he became chaplain in ordinary to his
majesty, was afterwards clerk of his closet, and by
,laim designed to be made master of the Savoy Hospital,
SHELDON. 395
and Dean of Westminster ; but his settlement in them
was prevented by the rebellion.
In February, 1644, he was one of the king's chap-
lains sent by his majesty to attend his commissioners
(at the treaty of Uxbridge) for their devotions, and for
the other Service of the Church, as the management of
the treaty required, which could not be foreseen.
In April, 1646, we find him attending his majesty
at Oxford, and witness to a remarkable vow of his,
which is published in the Appendix to Archdeacon
Echard's History of England, p. 5 : — " In the midst of
these uncommon difficulties, the pious king, as it were,
reflecting upon his concessions relating to the Churches
of Scotland and England, and being extremely tender
in case of sacrilegious encroachments, wrote and signed
this extraordinary vow, which was never yet published :
— I do here promise and solemnly vow, in the presence
and for the service of Almighty God, that if it shall
please the Divine Majesty, of His infinite goodness to
restore me to my just kingly rights, and to reestablish
me in my throne, I will wholly give back to His Church
all those impropriations which are now held by the crown ;
and what lands soever I do now, or should enjoy, which
have been taken away, either from any episcopal see, or
any cathedral or collegiate church, from any abbey, or
other religious house. I likewise promise for hereafter
to hold them from the Church, under such reasonable
fines and rents as shall be set down by some conscien-
tious persons, whom I propose to choose with all up-
rightness of heart, to direct me in this particular. And
I most humbly beseech God to accept of this my vow,
and to bless me in the design I have now in hand,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
"Oxford, April 13, 1646. Chaeles K"
This is a true copy of the king's vow, which was pre-
served thirteen years under ground by me,
3 660, Aug. 21. GiLB. Sheldon.
396 SHELDON.
During the king's being at Newmarket, a.d. 1647, and
afterwards in the Isle of Wight, Sheldon had the
honour to attend his majesty as one of his chaplains.
In the latter end of 1647, he was ejected his warden-
ship by the parliament visitors, and in 1648, was im-
prisoned ; but obtaining his liberty some time after, he
retired to Snelston in Derbyshire, whence from his own
purse, and from others which he made use of, he sent
constantly monies to the exiled king, and followed his
studies and devotions till matters tended to a happy
restoration. On the 4:th of March, 1659, Dr. John
Palmer, w^ho had usurped his wardenship almost twelve
years, died ; at which time there being an eminent fore-
sight of his majesty's return, there was no election
made of a successor, only a restitution of Dr. Sheldon,
though he never took re-possession.
On the king's return he met his majesty at Canter-
bury, and was soon after made Dean of the Chapel
Royal, and upon Bishop Juxon's translation to Canter-
bury, was made Bishop of London, to which he was
elected Oct. 9, 1 660 ; confirmed the 23rd, and conse-
crated in King Henry the Seventh's Chapel, at West-
minster, on the 28th of the said month, by Brian
Winchester, assisted by Accepted York, Matthew Ely,
John Rochester, and Henry Chichester, by virtue of a
commission from the archbishop, dated Oct. 24, and
directed to them for that purpose.
He held the mastership of the Savoy with the Bishop-
ric of London ; for the famous conference between the
episcopal clergy and the Presbyterian divines concerning
alterations to be made in the Liturgy, ad. 1661, was
held at his lodgings in the Savoy.
Hence the name of this great historical event ; at the
first meeting of the commissioners appointed to confer.
Bishop Sheldon told the Presbyterian theologians, *' that
not the bishops, but they, had been seekers of the con-
ference, and desired alterations in the Liturgy : therefore,
SHELDON. 397
there was nothing to be done till they had brought in all
they had to say against it in writing, and all the
additional forms and alterations which they desired. The
ministers moved for an amicable conference, according to
the commission, as thinking it more likely to contribute
to dispatch, and to the answering the great end : whereas
writing would be a tedious, endless business, and prevent
that familiarity and acquaintance with each others minds,
which might facilitate concord. But Bishop Sheldon ab-
solutely insisted upon it, * that nothing should be done
till all exceptions, alterations, and additions, were brought
in at once.' And after some debate, it was agreed, ' that
they should bring in all their exceptions at one time, and
all their additions at another time.' During the course
of the conference the bishop did not appear often, and
engaged not in all the disputation, and yet was well
known to have a principal hand in disposing of all such
affairs."
While he was Bishop of London he contributed largely
to the repairs of Christ Church, Oxford, damaged as that
college had been by the iniquities of the rebellion. He
also had the chief direction of the province of Cantor
bury, owing to the great age of Archbishop Juxon, whose
successor he became in 1663. He expended large sums
upon the episcopal houses of the See of London ; and
being translated to that of Canterbury in 1663, he re-
built the Library at Lambeth, and made additions to its
contents. It was still more to his honour, that he
remained at Lambeth during the plague of London, and
exerted himself, both by his own liberal contributions,
and by promoting collections throughout his province, for
the relief of the afflicted. On the removal of Lord
Clarendon from the chancellorship of the University of
Oxford, he was chosen to succeed him in December
1667 ; and he immortalized his bounty to that university
by the erection, at his sole expence, of the celebrated
theatre at Oxford which bears his name : " Munus (says
VOL. VIII. M M
398 SHELDON.
Dr. Lowth in an elegant oration) dignum auctore — quod
cum intueor et circumspicio, videor mihi in ipsa Roma
vel in mediis Athenis, antiquis illis, et cum maxime
florentibus, versari," This edifice was opened in July,
1669, soon after whicli he resigned his chancellorship, and
retired from public business. He had before honourably
lost the king's confidence by importuning him to part
with his mistress, Barbara Villiers. During the latter
part of his life he chiefly resided at Croydon. He died
at Lambeth, on November 9th, 1677, in the 80th year
of his age.
Besides his learning and piety he is particularly dis-
tinguished by his munificent benefactions. We are
assured by his relations, that from the time of his
being Bishop of London to that of his death, it appeared
in his book of accompts, that upon public, pious, and
charitable uses he had bestowed about £66,000. Another
author has the following paragraph.
Dr. Sheldon, while Bishop of London, (not to enu-
merate particulars) gave for the augmentation of vicarages
belonging to his see the sum of one hundred and forty
pounds a year, for which he abated in his fines to the
value of £1680. When advanced to the See of Canter-
bury, he augmented the vicarages of Whitestable in
Kent, and disposed to public pious uses, in acts of
munificence and charity (in his life, or by his last will
and testament) the sum of £72,000, as attested by his
treasurer, Ralph Snow, Esq., to whom his grace left a
generous legacy under this distinguishing style, " to my
old and faithful servant."
Elsewhere it is said, after the civil wars, there were
several bishops who gave their helping hands to the
repairing and enlarging of Trinity College in Oxford,
especially Archbishop Sheldon.
His works of piety and charity are enumerated
as follows by the pen of the learned Mr. Henry
Wharton :—
SHELDON. 399
To my Lord Peter, for the purchase £. s. d.
of London House 5200 0 0
Abated in his fines for the augmen-
tation of Vicarages 1680 0 0
In the repair of St. Paul's before
the fire 2169 17 10
Repairs of his houses at Fulham,
Lambeth, and Croydon 4500 0 0
To All Souls Chapel, Trinity College
Chapel, Christ Church, Oxford,
and Lichfield Cathedral ... ... 450 0 0
Charge of the Theatre at Oxford ... 14470 11 11
To the University, to buy land to
keep it in perpetual repair 2000 0 0
When he was made bishop, the
leases being all expired, he abated
in his fines, (I suppose the above-
mentioned article of £1680 is
included in this) 17733 0 0
In his will I find the following particulars : —
*'My body I desire may be decently buried, but very
privately and speedily, that my funeral may not waste
much of what I leave behind for better uses.
"I give to good, pious, and charitable uses, £1500 to
be disposed of as I shall direct either by writing or by
word of mouth ; or for want of such directions, as my
executors and overseers shall think fit.
" To my successors some books mentioned in a
schedule.
" All the plate, furniture and books in the Chapel at
Lambeth to my succesors in order.
" Whereas I formerly subscribed £2000 to the repair
of St. Paid's, my executors to discharge whatever shall
remain unpaid at my decease.
" Published Feb. 5, 1672."
400 SHERLOCK.
Sheldon's only publication is, A Sermon preached
before the king at Whitehall, upon June 8, 1660, being
the day of solemn Thanksgiving for the happy return
of his majesty, on Psalm xviii. 49, London, 1660, 4to. —
Le Neve. Wood.
SHERLOCK, THOMAS.
This distinguished prelate, son of the succeeding, was
born in London in the year 1678. He was educated
at Eton, where he was distinguished as a scholar, and
not less for his love of athletic exercises, especially of
bathing. From Eton he went to Catharine Hall, Cam-
bridge, where he obtained a fellowship. Upon the re-
signation of his father, in 1704, he was made master of
the Temple, and, notwithstanding his youth, soon ob-
tained the respect of the members of that society, where
his preaching was blessed for many years with eminent
success. His sermons are, for calm and steady reason-
ing, as well as forcible expression, among the first com-
joositions we possess in that department of literature.
He took his degree of D.D. in 1707, in which year he
married. In 1714, he was elected master of Catharine
Hall, and in 1716, was promoted to the Deanery of
Chichester.
Except three sermons, preached on public occasions,
he did not come forth as an author until the famous
controversy, known as the "Bangorian;" and he was
unquestionably by far the most powerful antagonist
against whom Bishop Hoadley had to contend. He
published a great many pamphlets on the subject, the
chief of which is entitled, " A Vindication of the Cor-
poration and Test Acts, in answer to the Bishop of
Bangor's reasons for a Repeal of them, 1718." To
this the bishop lost no time in replying, yet while he
vehemently opposed the principles laid down in the
SHERLOCK. 401
tract, he bore the most unequivocal testimony to the
abilities of the author. It has been said that Bishop
Sherlock afterwards regretted the strong line of conduct
he had taken with respect to this controversy, and re-
pented of the language he had employed. Nothing,
however, can be further from the truth ; so far from
changing his opinion on the subject, he wrote some
additional treatises, which he had always wished to pub-
lish. His views appear to have remained unchanged :
*' I have been assured," says Bishop Newton, whose
opinion on the point must be decisive, *' by the best
authority — by those who lived with him most, and knew
him best — that this intimation is absolutely false."
The period at which Bishop) Sherlock lived was re-
markable for the low state of religious feeling, both
within and without the pale of the established Church.
The age of fanaticism had passed by, and had been
followed by one in which the great fundamental doc-
trines of Christianity were thrown into the shade. The
fact has been attempted to be denied ; but to no purpose.
The published religious works of the day afford proof
positive that this statement is true ; and the testimony
of those who mourned over what they could not alter,
places the matter beyond all dispute. A race of un-
principled men sprung up, desirous wholly to undermine
the Christian faith, and on its ruins to erect a wretched
system of deism, utterly subversive of every moral
principle, loosing man from all moral restraints, and
allowing him to lead, without dread of a judgment, a life
of unbounded sensuality, with the flattering promise,
"death is an eternal sleep." " All who had objections
of their own to offer, or who might hope to serve their
cause by reviving the calumnies of others, were at perfect
liberty to produce them. Accordingly the authenticity
of the Bible, more especially of Christianity, was assailed
at all points by a host of free-thinkers and sophistical
reasoners, with a versatility of skill unknown to its
M M 3
402 SHERLOCK.
ancient adversaries, and a zeal as indefatigable in its
exertions as it was bold and ingenious in its contri-
vances. History, philosophy, literature, and romance,
wit, satire, ridicule, reproach, and even falsehood, were
all leagued in this conspiracy, and furnished, in their
turn, arms for prosecuting this unnatural rebellion
against light and truth," Although Lord Shaftesbury,
even where he sets up ridicule as the test and criterion
of truth, expresses his strong and decided disapprobation
of scurrilous buffoonery, gross raillery and an illiberal
kind of wit, and that what is contrary to good breeding
is in this repect as contrary to liberty.
Anthony Collins published, though as was his custom
without his name, his " Discourse of the Grounds and
Reasons of the Christian Religion," a book which made
a great noise ; for " the turn given to the controversy,'
says Dr. Leland, " had something in it that seemed
new, and was managed with great art ; and yet, when
closely examined, it appears to be weak and trifling."
In enumerating the many admirable and convincing
replies to this work, a most powerful treatise issued from
the pen of Dr. Chandler, Bishop of Lichfield and Coven-
try. Dr. Leland says, " it may be proper also to men-
tion a book which was occasioned by ' the Grounds,' &c.,
though not directly in answer to it, entitled, ' The use
and Intent of Prophecy in the several ages of the
Church,' by Dr. Thomas Sherlock,' &c. &c. This is
an excellent performance ; in which a regular series of
prophecy is deduced through the several ages from the
beginning, and its great usefulness shown. The various
degrees of light are distinctly marked out, which were
successively communicated in such a manner as to
answer the great ends of religion and the designs of
Providence, till those great events to which they were
intended to be subservient should receive their accom-
plishment. Dr. Sherlock greatly distinguished himself
by this publication, which, if possible, proved more fully
SHERLOCK. 403
the strength of his mental powers, and the depth and
extent of his varied acquirements, Collins's opinions
were that man is a mere machine.; that the soul is
material and mortal ; that Christ and his apostles built
on the predictions of fortune-tellers, and divines; that
the Prophets were mere fortune-tellers and discoverers
of lost goods ; that Christianity stands wholly on a false
foundation. Yet he speaks respectfully of Christianity,
and also of the Epicureans, whom he at the same time
regards as Atheists.
Woolston now appeared as the champion of infidelity.
His object was to allegorize away the miracles of our
Lord, as Collins had attempted to act with respect to
the prophecies. But his conduct was flagrant in the
extreme. He is styled by JMosheim " a man of an in-
auspicious genius, who made the most audacious though
senseless attempts to invalidate the miracles of Christ."
" Many glaring instances of unfairness and disingenuity
in his quotations from the fathers were plainly proved
upon him. It was shown that he had quoted books
generally allowed to be spurious as the genuine works
of the fathers ; and hath, by false taanslations and
injurious interpolations, and foisting in of words, done
all that was in his power to pervert the true sense
of the authors he quotes ; and that sometimes he inter-
prets them in a manner directly contrary to their own
declared sense, in the very passages he appeals to, as
would have appeared if he had fairly produced the whole
passage. It is not to be wondered at, that an author
who was capable of such a conduct should stick at no
methods to expose and misrepresent the accounts given
by the evangelists of our Saviours miracles. Under
pretence of showing the absurdity of the literal and
liistorical sense of the facts recorded in the Gospels,
he hath given himself an unrestrained license in invec-
tive and abuse. The books of the Evangelists, and the
facts there related, he hath treated in a strain of low
404 SHERLOCK.
and coarse buffoonery, and with an insolence and scur-
rility that is hardly to be paralleled."
Dr. Sherlock took up the cause of truth with great
talent and decision. He clearly perceived the knavery
as well as weakness of his antagonist ; and he published
his well known small treatise^ " The Trial of the Wit-
nesses of the Resurrection of Jesus, 1729 ;" a work
which has gone through a very large number of editions,
and which Leland describes as being "universally
admired for the polite and uncommon turn, as well
as the judicious manner of treating the subject."
In 1728, he was promoted to the See of Bangor, in
which he succeeded his antagonist Bishop Hoadley ; as
he did, in 1738, in that of Salisbury. As his intimacy
with the members of the legal profession, while master of
the Temple, had given him a propensity to study the
law, and he had naturally a turn to business, he was not
a silent occupier of a seat in the house of lords, but
occasionally joined in debates, as a supporter of the
interests of the Crown and Church, in which he delivered
himself with force and elegance. He opposed the bill
brought in 17B1 from the house of commons, respecting
members being pensioners,* regarding it as tending to
diminish the influence of the crown in that house, and
thereby to disturb the balance of the constitution. He
not only spoke, but by his influence excited an opposition
out of doors, against an attempt to settle an unvaried
and certain stipend on the clergy in lieu of tithes. He
was considered in parliament as a great authority in
ecclesiastical law, and frequently led the judgment of the
house. Such was the reputation he acquired in the epis-
copal character, that upon the death of Archbishop
Potter in 1747, he was offered the See of Canterbury,
which he declined on account of ill health ; but after-
wards recovering, he accepted the See of London, vacant
in 1749.
In the month of February, 1750, a violent shock of an
SHERLOCK. 405
earthquake, which had been, as it were, announced by
some remarkable coruscations of aurora borealis, with
tremendous tempests of thunder, lightning, hail and
rain, greatly terrified the inhabitants of the metropolis :
and this terror was redoubled by a similar phenomenon,
on the very same day of the following month, between
five and six in the morning. The shock was immediately
preceded by a succession of thick low flashes of lightning,
and a rumbling noise like that of a heavy carriage rolling
over a hollow pavement : its vibrations shook every house
from top to bottom, and in many places the church-bells
were heard to strike ; people started naked from their
beds, and ran to their doors and windows in a state of
distraction ; yet no house was overthrown and no life was
lost. However, the periodical recurrence of the shocks,
and the superior violence of the second, made a deep im-
pression on the minds of the more ignorant and super-
stitious part of the community ; who began to fear lest
another such visitation should be attended with more
dismal consequences. These sentiments of terror and
dismay soon spread, and were augmented to an extraor-
dinary degree by a fanatical soldier, who went about the
streets preaching up repentance, and boldly prophesying
that another shock in the same day in April w^ould lay
the mighty Babylon in ruins. ' Considering the infec-
tious nature of fear and superstition,' says the historian,
and the emphatic manner in which the imagination had
been prepared and preposssssed, it was no wonder that
the prediction of this illiterate enthusiast should have
contributed in a great measure to augment the general
terror. The churches were crowded with penitent sin-
ners ; the sons of riot and profligacy were overawed into
sobriety and decorum. The streets no longer resounded
with execrations or the noise of brutal licentiousness ;
and the hand of charity was liberally opened. Those
whom fortune had enabled to retire from the devoted city,
fled to the country with hurry and precipitation ; inso-
408 SHERLOCK.
much that the highways were encumbered with horses
and carriages. Many who had in the beginning com-
bated these groundless fears with the weapons of reason
and ridicule, began insensibly to imbibe the contagion,
and felt their hearts fail in proportion as the hour of pro-
bation approached : even science and philosophy were not
proof against the unaccountable effects of this communi-
cation : in after ages it will hardly be believed that on
the evening of the 8th day of April, the open fields that
skirt the metropolis were filled with an incredible num-
ber of people assembled in chairs, in chaises, and
coaches, as well as on foot, who waited in the most fear-
ful suspense, until morning and the return of day
disproved the truth of the dreaded prophecy. Then
their fears vanished; they returned to their respective
habitations in a transport of joy ; were soon reconciled to
their abandoned vices, which they seemed to resume with
redoubled affection; and once more bade defiance to the
vengeance of Heaven.
The Bishop of London took advantage of the peculiar
state of feeling into which the public mind had been
forced by these extraordinary events, to address a " Pas-
toral Letter to the Clergy and Inhabitants of London
and Westminster, on occasion of the late Earthquakes."
This was bougbt up and read with such avidity by all
ranks of people, that more than 100,000 copies were sold
within a month. A tract also which he composed on the
observance of Good Friday is said to have had great
effect, in a moral and religious point of view. Nor would
it be right if we omitted to mention his admirable
Charge, the only one he published, which he printed and
distributed among his clergy in 1759, and in which a
profound knowledge of the law, both of Church and
State, is applied with paternal affection to their use and
service.
He still held his ofiice in the Temple till 1753, when
he resigned it in an Affectionate Letter to the Benchers.
SHERLOCK, WILLIAM. 407
Infirmities soon after accumulated upon him ; he nearly-
lost the use of his limbs and speech, but still retained
vigour of understanding sufficient for the revision and
correction of a volume of sermons, which was follow^ed
by four volumes more.